MESSAGE 


OF  THE 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

COMMUNICATED  TO  THE 


TWO  HOUSES  OF  CONGRESS 


AT  THE 


BEGINNING  OF  THE  THIRD  SESSION  OF 
THE  FIFTY-EIGHTH  CONGRESS 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1904 


Avery  Arc  hitectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Sfymoi  r  B.  Di  rst  Old  York  Library 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/messageofpresideOOunit_0 


MESSAGE 


PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES 


COMMUNICATED  TO  THE 


TWO  HOUSES  OF  CONGRESS 


AT  THE 


BEGINNING  OF  THE  THIRD  SESSION  OF 
THE  FIFTY-EIGHTH  CONGRESS 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1904 


MESSAGE. 


To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives:  • 

The  Nation  continues  to  enjoy  noteworthy  prosperity.  Such 
prosperity  is  of  course  primarily  due  to  the  high  individual  average 
of  our  citizenship,  taken  together  with  our  great  natural  resources; 
but  an  important  factor  therein  is  the  working  of  our  long-continued 
governmental  policies.  The  people  have  emphatically  expressed 
their  approval  of  the  principles  underlying  these  policies,  and  their 
desire  that  these  principles  be  kept  substantially  unchanged,  although 
of  course  applied  in  a  progressive  spirit  to  meet  changing  conditions. 

The  enlargement  of  scope  of  the  functions  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment required  by  our  development  as  a  nation  involves,  of  course, 
increase  of  expense;  and  the  period  of  prosperity  through  which  the 
country  is  passing  justifies  expenditures  for  permanent  improve- 
ments far  greater  than  would  be  wise  in  hard 

Caution  against         times.    Battle  ships  and  forts,  public  buildings, 
extravagance.  ^   .  .  .  ... 

and  improved  waterways  are  investments  which 

should  be  made  when  we  have  the  money;  but  abundant  revenues  and 

a  large  surplus  always  invite  extravagance,  and  constant  care  should 

be  taken  to  guard  against  unnecessary  increase  of  the  ordinary 

expenses  of  government.    The  cost  of  doing  Goveniment  business 

should  be  regulated  with  the  same  rigid  scrutiny  as  the  cost  of  doing 

a  private  business. 

In  the  vast  and  complicated  mechanism  of  our  modern  civilized 

life  the  dominant  note  is  the  note  of  industrialism;  and  the  relations 

of  capital  and  labor,  and  especially  of  organized 
Capital  and  labor.      capital  and  organized  labor,  to  each  other  and  to 

the  public  at  large  come  second  in  importance 
only  to  the  intimate  questions  of  family  life.  Our  peculiar  form 
of  government,  with  its  sharp  division  of  authority  between  the 
Nation  and  the  several  States,  has  been  on  the  whole  far  more 


2 


ach  atanocoiis  to  our  (k'\  cl<)])nK'iit  than  a  more  slronoly  centralized 
oo\-ernnient.  lUit  it  is  undonbtedh-  responsible  for  nincli  of  the 
difficulty  of  nieetino-  with  ade(|uate  le.^islation  the  new  problems 
presented  by  the  total  change  in  industrial  conditions  on  this  con- 
tinent during  the  last  half  centurw  In  actual  ])ractice  it  has  proved 
exceedini;l\-  difficult,  and  in  many  cases  impossible,  to  <^et  unan- 
imity of  wise  action  anionj^-  the  various  States  on  these  subjects. 
From  the  very  nature  of  the  case  this  is  especially  true  of  the  laws 
affecting;  the  eniploMuent  of  capital  in  hu<^e  masses. 

With  regard  to  labor  the  problem  is  no  less  important,  but  it 
is  simpler.  As  lono-  as  the  States  retain  the  primary  control  of 
the  police  power  the  circumstances  must  be  altogether  extreme 
which  require  interference  by  the  Federal  authorities,  whether  in 
the  way  of  safeguarding  the  rights  of  labor  or  in  the  way  of  seeing 
that  wrong  is  not  done  by  unrtily  persons  who  shield  themselves 
behind  the  name  of  labor.  If  there  is  resistance  to  the  Federal 
courts,  interference  with  the  mails,  or  interstate  commerce,  or  molesta- 
tion of  Federal  propert}',  or  if  the  State  authorities  in  some  crisis 
wdiich  they  are  unable  to  face  call  for  help,  then  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment may  interfere;  but  though  such  interference  may  be  caused 
by  a  condition  of  things  arising  out  of  trouble  connected  with  some 
question  of  labor,  the  interference  itself  simply  takes  the  form  of 
restoring  order  wdthout 'regard  to  the  questions  which  have  caused 
the  breach  of  order — for  to  keep  order  is  a  primary  duty  and  in  a 
time  of  disorder  and  violence  all  other  questions  sink  into  abeyance 
until  order  has  been  restored.  In  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in 
the  Territories  the  Federal  law  covers  the  entire  field  of  govern- 
ment; but  the  labor  question  is  only  acute  in  ^^opulous  centers  of  com- 
merce, manufactures,  or  mining.  Nevertheless,  both  in  the  enactment 
and  in  the  enforcement  of  law^  the  Federal  Government  within  its 
restricted  sphere  shoidd  set  an  example  to  the  State  governments, 
especially  in  a  matter  so  vital  as  this  affecting  labor.  I  believe  that 
under  modern  industrial  conditions  it  is  often  necessary,  and  even 
where  not  necessary  it  is  yet  often  wise,  that  there  should  be  organ- 
ization of  labor  in  order  better  to  secure  the  rights  of  the  individual 
wage-worker.  All  encouragement  should  be  given  to  any  such 
organization,  so  long  as  it  is  conducted  wdth  a  due  and  decent 
regard  for  the  rights  of  others.  There  are  in  this  country  some 
labor  unions  which  have  habitually,  and  other  labor  unions  which 
have  often,  been  among  the  most  effective  agents  in  working  for 
good  citizenship  and  for  uplifting  the  condition  of  those  wdiose 
welfare  should  be  closest  to  our  hearts.    But  when  any  labor  union 


3 


seeks  improper  ends,  or  seeks  to  achieve  proper  ends  by  improper 
means,  all  good  citizens  and  more  especially  all  honorable  public 
servants  must  oppose  the  wrongdoing  as  resolutely  as  they  would 
oppose  the  wrongdoing  of  any  great  corporation.  Of  course  any 
violence,  brutality,  or  corruption,  should  not  for  one  moment  be  toler- 
ated. Wage-workers  have  an  entire  right  to  organize  and  by  all 
peaceful  and  honorable  means  to  endeavor  to  persuade  their  fel- 
lows to  join  with  them  in  organizations.  They  have  a  legal  right, 
which,  according  to  circumstances,  may  or  may  not  be  a  moral  right, 
to  refuse  to  work  in  company  with  men  who  decline  to  join  their 
organizations.  They  have  imder  no  circumstances  the  right  to 
commit  violence  upon  those,  whether  capitalists  or  wage-workers, 
who  refuse  to  support  their  organizations,  or  who  side  with  those 
with  whom  they  are  at  odds;  for  mob  rule  is  intolerable  in  any  form. 

The  wage-workers  are  peculiarly  entitled  to  the  protection  and 
the  encouragement  of  the  law.  From  the  very  nature  of  their 
occupation  railroad  men,  for  instance,  are  liable  to  be  maimed  in 
doing  the  legitimate  work  of  their  profession,  unless  the  railroad 
companies  are  required  by  law  to  make  ample 
l^^Tt^^r^  provision  for  their  safety.    The  Administration 

la  uty  aw.  been  zealous  in  enforcing  the  existing  law 

for  this  purpose.  That  law  should  be  amended  and  strengthened. 
Wherever  the  National  Government  has  power  there  should  be  a 
stringent  employer's  liability  law,  which  should  apply  to  the  Gov- 
ernment itself  where  the  Government  is  an  employer  of  labor. 

In  my  Message  to  the  Fifty-seventh  Congress,  at  its  second  session, 
I  urged  the  passage  of  an  employer's  liability  law  for  the  District 
of  Columbia.  I  now  renew  that  recommendation,  and  further 
recommend  that  the  Congress  appoint  a  commission  to  make  a 
comprehensive  study  of  employer's  liability  with  the  view  of  extend- 
ing the  provisions  of  a  great  and  constitutional  law  to  all  employ- 
ments within  the  scope  of  Federal  power. 

The  Government  has  recognized  heroism  upon  the  water,  and 
bestows  medals  of  honor  upon  those  persons  who  by  extreme  and 
heroic  daring  have  endangered  their  lives  in  sav- 
Medals  of  honor.  ing,  or  endeavoring  to  save,  lives  from  the  perils 
of  the  sea  in  the  waters  over  which  the  United 
States  has  jurisdiction,  or  upon  an  American  vessel.  This  recog- 
nition should  be  extended  to  cover  cases  of  conspicuous  bravery 
and  self-sacrifice  in  the  saving  of  life  in  private  employments  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  and  particularly  in  the  land 
commerce  of  the  Nation. 


4 


The  ever-increasing-  casualt)-  list  upon  onr  railroads  is  a  matter 
of  trrave  public  concern,  and  nrj^enth-  calls  for  action  by  the  Con- 
gress.   In  the  matter  of  speed  and  comfort  of  railway  travel  our 
railroads  give  at  least  as  good  service  as  those  of 

Prevention  of  other  nation,  and  there  is  no  reason  whv  this 

railroad  accidents.  '  .       ,      ,  .  .     .  ,  , 

service  should  not  also  be  as  sate  as  human  ingenu- 
ity can  make  it.  Many  of  our  leading  roads  have  been  foremost  in 
the  adoption  of  the  most  approved  safeguards  for  the  protection  of 
travelers  and  employees,  yet  the  list  of  clearly  avoidable  accidents 
continues  unduly  large.  The  passage  of  a  law  requiring  the  adop- 
tion of  a  block-signal  s\-stem  has  been  proposed  to  the  Congress.  I 
earnestly  concur  in  that  recommendation,  and  would  also  point  out 
to  the  Congress  the  urgent  need  of  legislation  in  the  interest  of  the 
public  safety  limiting  the  hours  of  labor  for  railroad  employees 
in  train  service  upon  railroads  engaged  in  interstate  commerce,  and 
providing  that  only  trained  and  experienced  persons  be  employed  in 
positions  of  responsibility  connected  with  the  operation  of  trains. 
Of  course  nothing  can  ever  prevent  accidents  caused  by  human 
w^eakness  or  misconduct;  and  there  should  be  drastic  punishment 
for  any  railroad  employee,  whether  officer  or  man,  who  by  issuance 
of  wrong  orders  or  by  disobedience  of  orders  causes  disaster.  The 
law  of  1 901,  requiring  interstate  railroads  to  make  monthly  reports 
of  all  accidents  to  passengers  and  employees  on  duty,  should  also  be 
amended  so  as  to  empower  the  Government  to  make  a  personal 
investigation,  through  proper  officers,  of  all  accidents  involving  loss 
of  life  which  seem  to  require  investigation,  with  a  requirement  that 
the  results  of  such  investigation  be  made  public. 

The  safety-appliance  law,  as  amended  by  the  act  of  ]\Iarch  2, 
1903,  has  proved  beneficial  to  railway  employees,  and  in  order  that 
its  provisions  may  be  properly  carried  out,  the  force  of  inspectors 
provided  for  by  appropriation  should  be  largely  increased.  This 
service  is  analogous  to  the  Steamboat-Inspection  Service,  and  deals 
with  even  more  important  interests.  It  has  passed  the  experimental 
stage  and  demonstrated  its  utility,  and  should  receive  generous 
recognition  by  the  Congress. 

There  is  no  objection  to  employees  of  the  Government  forming 
or  belonging  to  unions;  but  the  Government  can  neither  discrimi- 
nate for  nor  discriminate  against  nonunion  men  wdio  are  in  its 
employment,  or  wdio  seek  to  be  employed  under  it.  ]\Ioreover,  it 
is  a  very  grave  impropriety  for  Government  employees  to  band 
themselves  together  for  the  purpose  of  extorting  improperly  high 
salaries  from  the  Government.    Especially  is  this  true  of  those 


5 


within  the  classified  service.    The  letter  carriers,  both  municipal 

and  rural,  are  as  a  whole  an  excellent  body  of  public  servants. 

They  should  be  amply  paid.    But  their  payment  must  be  obtained 

by  arguing  their  claims  fairly  and  honorably  before 

Unions  of  Congress,  and  not  by  banding  together  for  the 

1  defeat  of  those  CongTressmen  who  refuse  to  orive 

employees.  _  ^  ,  , 

promises  which  they  can  not  in  conscience  give. 
The  Administration  has  already  taken  steps  to  prevent  and  punish 
abuses  of  this  nature;  but  it  will  be  wise  for  the  Congress  to  sup- 
plement this  action  by  legislation. 

Much  can  be  done  by  the  Government  in  labor  matters  merely 
by  giving  publicity  to  certain  conditions.  The  Bureau  of  Labor 
has  done  excellent  work  of  this  kind  in  many  different  directions. 

I  shall  shortly  lay  before  you  in  a  special  message 
Bureau  of  Labor.      the  full  report  of  the  investigation  of  the  Bureau 

of  Labor  into  the  Colorado  mining  strike,  as  this 
is  a  strike  in  which  certain  very  evil  forces,  which  are  more  or 
less  at  work  ever\'where  under  the  conditions  of  modern  industri- 
alism, became  startlingly  prominent.  It  is  greatly  to  be  wished 
that  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  through  the  Labor 
Bureau,  should  compile  and  arrange  for  the  Congress  a  list  of  the 
labor  laws  of  the  various  States,  and  should  be  given  the  means  to 
investigate  and  report  to  the  Congress  upon  the  labor  conditions 
in  the  manufacturing  and  mining  regions  throughout  the  countr}', 
both  as  to  wages,  as  to  hours  of  labor,  as  to  the  labor  of  women 
and  children,  and  as  to  the  effect  in  the  various  labor  centers  of 
immigration  from  abroad.  In  this  investigation  especial  attention 
should  be  paid  to  the  conditions  of  child  labor  and  child-labor  leg- 
islation in  the  several  States.  Such  an  investigation  must  neces- 
sarily take  into  account  many  of  the  problems  with  which  this 
question  of  child  labor  is  connected.  These  problems  can  be  act- 
ually met,  in  most  cases,  only  by  the  States  themselves;  but  the 
lack  of  proper  legislation  in  one  State  in  such  a  matter  as  child 
labor  often  renders  it  excessively  difficult  to  establish  protective 
restriction  upon  the  work  in  another  State  having  the  same  indus- 
tries, so  that  the  worst  tends  to  drag  down  the  better.  For  this 
reason,  it  would  be  well  for  the  Nation  at  least  to  endeavor  to  secure 
comprehensive  information  as  to  the  conditions  of  labor  of  children 
in  the  different  States.  Such  investigation  and  publication  by  the 
National  Government  would  tend  toward  the  securing  of  approxi- 
mately uniform  legislation  of  the  proper  character  among  the  sev- 
eral States. 

2 


6 


\\'hcn  wc  come  to  deal  with  iL^reat  cor])orations  the  need  for  the 
Governineiit  to  act  direct!)-  is  far  ^^reater  than  in  the  case  of  labor, 
becanse  i^reat  corporations  can  become  snch  onh'  by  en<4-ao^in(»-  in 
interstate  commerce,  and  interstate  commerce  is 
Corporations.  ])ecnliarly  the  field  of  the  General  (lovernment. 

It  is  an  absnrdity  to  expect  to  eliminate  the 
abnses  in  oreat  cor])orations  by  State  action.  It  is  difficult  to  be 
patient  with  an  argument  that  such  matters  should  be  left  to  the 
States,  because  more  than  one  vState  pursues  the  policy  of  cre- 
atincr  on  easy  terms  corporations  which  are  never  operated  within 
that  State  at  all,  but  in  other  States  whose  laws  they  ignore.  The 
National  Government  alone  can  deal  adequately  with  these  great 
corporations.  To  try  to  deal  with  them  in  an  intemperate,  destruc- 
tive, or  demagogic  spirit  would,  in  all  probability,  mean  that  nothing 
whatever  would  be  accomplished,  and,  with  absolute  certainty,  that 
if  anything  were  accomplished  it  would  be  of  a  harmful  nature. 
The  American  people  need  to  continue  to  show  the  xQiy  qualities 
that  they  have  shown — that  is,  moderation,  good  sense,  the  earnest 
desire  to  avoid  doing  any  damage,  and  yet  the  quiet  determination 
to  proceed,  step  by  step,  without  halt  and  without  hurry,  in  eliminat- 
ing or  at  least  in  minimizing  whatever  of  mischief  or  of  evil  there 
is  to  interstate  commerce  in  the  conduct  of  great  corporations. 
They  are  acting  in  no  spirit  of  hostility  to  wealth,  either  individual 
or  corporate.  The}-  are  not  against  the  rich  man  au}-  more  than 
against  the  poor  man.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  friendly  alike 
toward  rich  man  and  toward  poor  man,  provided  only  that  each  acts 
in  a  spirit  of  justice  and  decency  toward  his  fellow\s.  Great  corpora- 
tions are  necessary,  and  only  men  of  great  and  singular  mental 
power  can  manage  such  corporations  successfulh',  and  such  men 
must  have  great  rewards.  But  these  corporations  should*  be  man- 
aged with  due  regard  to  the  interest  of  the  public  as  a  whole.  Where 
this  can  be  done  under  the  present  laws  it  must  be  done.  Where 
these  laws  come  short  others  should  be  enacted  to  supplement  them. 

Yet  we  must  never  forget  the  determining  factor  in  every  kind 
of  work,  of  head  or  hand,  must  be  the  man's  own  good  sense,  cour- 
age, and  kindliness.  More  important  than  an\'  legislation  is  the 
gradual  growth  of  a  feeling  of  responsibility  and  forbearance  among 
capitalists  and  wage-workers  alike;  a  feeling  of  respect  on  the  part 
of  each  man  for  the  rights  of  others;  a  feeling  of  broad  community 
of  interest,  not  merely  of  capitalists  among  themselves,  and  of  wage- 
workers  among  themselves,  but  of  capitalists  and  wage-workers  in 
their  relations  to  each  other,  and  of  both  in  their  relations  to  their 


7 

fellows  who  with  them  make  up  the  body  politic.  There  are  many 
captains  of  industry,  many  labor  leaders,  who  realize  this.  A  recent 
speech  by  the  president  of  one  of  our  great  railroad  systems  to  the 
employees  of  that  system  contains  sound  common  sense.  It  runs  in 
part  as  follows: 

"  It  is  my  belief  we  can  better  serve  each  other,  better  understand 
the  man  as  well  as  his  business,  when  meeting  face  to  face,  exchang- 
ing views,  and  realizing  from  personal  contact  we  serve  but  one 
interest,  that  of  our  mutual  prosperit}'. 

"Serious  misunderstandings  can  not  occur  where  personal  good 
will  exists  and  opportunit}'  for  personal  explanation  is  present. 

"In  my  early  business  life  I  had  experience  with  men  of  affairs 
of  a  character  to  make  me  desire  to  avoid  creating  a  like  feeling  of 
resentment  to  myself  and  the  interests  in  my  charge,  should  fortune 
ever  place  me  in  authority,  and  I  am  solicitous  of  a  measure  of  con- 
fidence on  the  part  of  the  public  and  our  employees  that  I  shall 
hope  may  be  warranted  by  the  fairness  and  good  fellowship  I  intend 
shall  prevail  in  our  relationship. 

"But  do  not  feel  I  am  disposed  to  grant  unreasonable  requests, 
spend  the  money  of  our  company  unnecessarily  or  without  value 
received,  nor  expect  the  days  of  mistakes  are  disappearing,  or  that 
cause  for  complaint  will  not  continually  occur;  simply  to  correct 
such  abuses  as  may  be  discovered,  to  better  conditions  as  fast  as 
reasonably  may  be  expected,  constantly  striving,  with  varying  suc- 
cess, for  that  improvement  we  all  desire,  to  convince  you  there  is  a 
force  at  work  in  the  right  direction,  all  the  time  making  progress — 
is  the  disposition  with  which  I  have  come  among  you,  asking  your 
good  will  and  encouragement. 

"  The  day  has  gone  by  when  a  corporation  can  be  handled  suc- 
cessfully in  defiance  of  the  public  will,  even  though  that  will  be 
unreasonable  and  wrong.  A  public  may  be  led,  but  not  driven,  and 
I  prefer  to  go  with  it  and  shape  or  modif}',  in  a  measure,  its  opinion, 
rather  than  be  swept  from  my  bearings,  with  loss  to  m}'self  and  the 
interests  in  my  charge. 

"  Violent  prejudice  exists  towards  corporate  activity  and  capital 
to-day,  much  of  it  founded  in  reason,  more  in  apprehension,  and  a 
large  measure  is  due  to  the  personal  traits  of  arbitrar}-,  unreason- 
able, incompetent,  and  offensive  men  in  positions  of  authority.  The 
accomplishment  of  results  by  indirection,  the  endeavor  to  thwart 
the  intention,  if  not  the  expressed  letter  of  the  law  (the  will  of  the 
people),  a  disregard  of  the  rights  of  others,  a  disposition  to  withhold 
what  is  due,  to  force  by  main  strength  or  inactivity  a  result  not 


8 


justified,  (k'})c'n(liii!L^  upon  the  weakness  of  tlie  claimant  and  his 
iu(lis])osition  to  l)ecouie  in\-ol\ed  in  litii^ation,  has  created  a  senti- 
ment harmful  in  the  extreme  and  a  disposition  to  consider  anything- 
fair  that  <^ives  t>-ain  to  the  individual  at  the  expense  of  the  company. 

''If  corporations  are  to  continue  to  do  the  world's  work,  as  they 
are  l)est  fitted  to,  these  (pialities  in  their  rei)resentatives  that  have 
resulted  in  the  present  prejudice  against  them  must  be  relegated  to 
the  backg-round.  The  corporations  must  come  out  into  the  open 
and  see  and  l)e  seen.  They  must  take  the  public  into  their  confi- 
dence and  ask  for  what  the\'  want,  and  no  more,  and  be  prepared  to 
explain  satisfactorily  what  adxantage  will  accrue  to  the  public  if 
they  are  given  their  desires;  for  they  are  permitted  to  exist  not  that 
they  may  make  money  solely,  but  that  they  may  effectively  serve 
those  from  whom  they  derive  their  power. 

Publicity,  and  not  secrecy,  will  win  hereafter,  and  laws  be  con- 
strued by  their  intent  and  not  by  their  letter,  otherwise  public  util- 
ities will  be  owned  and  operated  by  the  public  which  created  them, 
even  though  the  service  be  less  efficient  and  the  result  less  satis- 
factory from  a  financial  standpoint." 

The  Bureati  of  Corporations  has  made  careful  preliminary  investi- 
gation of  many  important  corporations.  It  will  make  a  special 
report  on  the  beef  industr}\ 

The  policy  of  the  Btireau  is  to  accomplish  the  purposes  of  its 

creation  by  cooperation,  not  antagonism;  by  making  constructive 

legislation,  not  destrtictive  prosecution,  the  imme- 

Bureau  of  diate  object  of  its  inqiiiries;  bv  conservative  inves- 

Corporations.  .      .         .  ,  /  .  ;  ,         r  ^ 

tigation  oi  law  and  tact,  and  by  rerusal  to  issue 

incomplete  and  hence  necessarily  inaccurate  reports.  Its  policy- 
being  thus  one  of  open  inquiry  into,  and  not  attack  upon,  business, 
the  Bureau  has  been  able  to  gain  not  only  the  confidence,  but,  better 
still,  the  cooperation  of  men  engaged  in  legitimate  business. 

The  Bureau  offers  to  the  Congress  the  means  of  getting  at  the 
cost  of  production  of  our  various  great  staples  of  commerce. 

Of  necessity  the  careful  investigation  of  special  corporations  will 
afford  the  Commissioner  knowledge  of  certain  business  facts,  the 
publication  of  which  might  be  an  improper  infringement  of  private 
rights.  The  method  of  making  public  the  results  of  these  investi- 
gations affords,  under  the  law,  a  means  for  the  protection  of  private 
rights.  The  Congress  will  have  all  facts  except  such  as  w^ould  give 
to  another  corporation  information  which  would  injure  the  legitimate 
business  of  a  competitor  and  destroy  the  incentive  for  individual 
superiority  and  thrift. 


9 


The  Bureau  has  also  made  exhaustive  exaniiuatious  into  the 
legal  condition  under  which  corporate  business  is  carried  on  in  the 
various  States;  into  all  judicial  decisions  on  the  subject;  and  into 
the  various  systems  of  corporate  taxation  in  use.  I  call  special 
attention  to  the  report  of  the  chief  of  the  Bureau;  and  I  earnestly 
ask  that  the  Congress  carefully  consider  the  report  and  recommen- 
dations of  the  Commissioner  on  this  subject. 

The  business  of  insurance  vitalh*  affects  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  and  is  national  and  not  local   in  its 
application.    It  involves  a  multitude  of  transac- 
Insurance.  tions  among  the  people  of  the  different  States  and 

between  American  companies  and  foreign  govern- 
ments. I  urge  that  the  Congress  carefully  consider  whether  the 
power  of  the  Bureau  of  Corporations  can  not  constitutionally  be 
extended  to  cover  interstate  transactions  in  insurance. 

Above  all  else,  we  must  strive  to  keep  the  highways  of  commerce 
open  to  all  on  equal  terms;  and  to  do  this  it  is  necessary  to  put  a 
complete  stop  to  all  rebates.    Whether  the  shipper  or  the  railroad 
is  to  blame  makes  no  difference;  the  rebate  must 
Rebates.  be  stopped,  the  abuses  of  the  private  car  and  pri- 

vate terminal-track  and  side-track  s}'stems  must 
be  stopped,  and  the  legislation  of  the  Fift}'-eighth  Congress  which 
declares  it  to  be  imlawful  for  any  person  or  corporation  to  offer, 
grant,  give,  solicit,  accept,  or  receive  any  rebate,  concession,  or 
discrimination  in  respect  of  the  transportation  of  any  property  in 
interstate  or  foreign  commerce  whereb}'  such  property  shall  by 
any  device  whatever  he  transported  at  a  less  rate  than  that  named 
in  the  tariffs  published  by  the  carrier  must  be  enforced.  For  some 
time  after  the  enactment  of  the  Act  to  Regulate  Commerce  it 
remained  a  mooted  question  whether  that  act  conferred  upon  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  the  power,  after  it  had  found  a 
challenged  rate  to  be  unreasonable,  to  declare  what  thereafter  should, 
prima  facie,  be  the  reasonable  maximum  rate  for  the  transportation 
in  dispute.  The  Supreme  Court  finally  resolved  that  question  in 
the  negative,  so  that  as  the  law  now  stands  the  Commission  simply 
possess  the  bare  power  to  denounce  a  particular  rate  as  unreasonable. 
While  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  at  present  it  would  be  undesirable, 
if  it  were  not  impracticable,  finally  to  clothe  the  Commission  with 
general  authority  to  fix  railroad  rates,  I  do  believe  that,  as  a  fair 
security  to  shippers,  the  Commission  should  be  vested  with  the 
power,  where  a  given  rate  has  been  challenged  and  after  full  hearing 
found  to  be  unreasonable,  to  decide,  subject  to  judicial  review,  what 


lO 

shall  be  a  reasonable  rate  to  take  its  place;  the  ruling  of  the  Com- 
mission to  take  effect  immediately,  and  to  obtain  unless  and  imtil 
it  is  reversed  by  the  court  of  review.  The  Government  must  in 
increasing  degree  supervise  and  regulate  the  workings  of  the  railways 
engaged  in  interstate  commerce;  and  such  increased  super\^ision  is 
the  only  alternative  to  an  increase  of  the  present  evils  on  the  one 
hand  or  a  still  more  radical  policy  on  the  other.  In  my  judgment 
the  most  important  legislative  act  now  needed  as  regards  the  regu- 
lation of  corporations  is  this  act  to  confer  on  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  the  power  to  revise  rates  and  regulations,  the 
revised  rate  to  at  once  go  into  effect,  and  to  stay  in  effect  unless  and 
until  the  court  of  review  reverses  it. 

Steamship  companies  engaged  in  interstate  commerce  and  pro- 
tected in  our  coastwise  trade,  should  be  held  to  a  strict  observance 
of  the  interstate  commerce  act. 

In  pursuing  the  set  plan  to  make  the  cit}'  of  Washington  an 
example  to  other  American  municipalities  several  points  should  be 
kept  in  mind  by  the  legislators.  In  the  first  place,  the  people  of 
this  country  should  clearly  understand  that  no 
City  of  Washington,  amount  of  industrial  prosperity,  and  above  all 
no  leadership  in  international  industrial  com- 
petition, can  in  any  way  atone  for  the  sapping  of  the  vitality  of 
those  who  are  usually  spoken  of  as  the  working  classes.  The  farm- 
ers, the  mechanics,  the  skilled  and  unskilled  laborers,  the  small  shop 
keepers,  make  up  the  bulk  of  the  population  of  any  country;  and 
upon  their  well-being,  generation  after  generation,  the  well-being 
of  the  countr}'  and  the  race  depends.  Rapid  development  in  wealth 
and  industrial  leadership  is  a  good  thing,  but  onh'  if  it  goes  hand 
in  hand  with  improvement,  and  not  deterioration,  physical  and 
moral.  The  o\'ercrowding  of  cities  and  the  draining  of  country 
districts  are  unhealth}'  and  even  dangerous  s}-mptoms  in  our 
modern  life.  We  should  not  permit  overcrowding  in  cities.  In 
certain  European  cities  it  is  provided  by  law  that  the  population 
of  towns  shall  not  be  allowed  to  exceed  a  very  limited  density  for 
a  given  area,  so  that  the  increase  in  density  must  be  continually 
pushed  back  into  a  broad  zone  around  the  center  of  the  town,  this 
zone  having  great  avenues  or  parks  within  it.  The  death-rate 
statistics  show  a  terrible  increase  in  n^ortality,  and  especialh'  in 
*nfant  mortality,  in  overcrowded  tenements.  The  poorest  families 
tenement  houses  live  in  one  room,  and  it  appears  that  in  these 
room  tenements  the  average  death  rate  for  a  number  of  given 
at  home  and  abroad  is  about  twice  what  it  is  in  a  two-room 


1 1 

tenement,  fonr  times  what  it  is  in  a  three-room  tenement,  and  eight 
times  what  it  is  in  a  tenement  consisting  of  fonr  rooms  or  over. 
These  figures  vary  somewhat  for  different  cities,  but  they  approxi- 
mate in  eacli  city  those  given  above;  and  in  all  cases  the  increase  of 
mortalitv,  and  especially  of  infant  mortality,  with  the  decrease  in 
the  number  of  rooms  used  by  the  famih"  and  with  the  consequent 
overcrowding  is  startling.  The  slum  exacts  a  heavy  total  of  death 
from  those  who  dwell  therein;  and  this  is  the  case  not  merely  in 
the  great  crowded  slums  of  high  buildings  in  New  York  and  Chicago, 
but  in  the  alle>'  slums  of  Washington.  In  Washington  people  can 
not  afford  to  ignore  the  harm  that  this  causes.  No  Christian  and 
civilized  community  can  afford  to  show  a  happy-go-lucky  lack  of 
concern  for  the  youth  of  to-day;  for,  if  so,  the  community  will  have 
to  pav  a  terrible  penalty  of  financial  burden  and  social  degradation 
in  the  to-morrow.  There  should  be  severe  child-labor  and  factory- 
inspection  laws.  It  is  very  desirable  that  married  women  should  not 
work  in  factories.  The  prime  dut\- of  the  man  is  to  work,  to  be  the 
breadwinner;  the  prime  dut}'  of  the  woman  is  to  be  the  mother,  the 
housewife.  All  questions  of  tariff  and  finance  sink  into  utter  insig- 
nificance wdien  compared  with  the  tremendous,  the  vital  importance 
of  tr\-ing  to  shape  conditions  so  that  these  two  duties  of  the  man  and 
of  the  woman  can  be  fulfilled  under  reasonably  favorable  circum- 
stances. If  a  race  does  not  have  plenty  of  children,  or  if  the  children 
do  not  grow  up,  or  if  when  the}'  grow  up  the}-  are  unhealthy  in 
body  and  stunted  or  vicious  in  mind,  then  that  race  is  decadent,  and 
no  heaping  up  of  wealth,  no  splendor  of  momentar}-  material  pros- 
perity, can  avail  in  au}'  degree  as  offsets. 

The  Congress  has  the  same  power  of  legislation  for  the  District 
of  Columbia  which  the  State  legislatures  have  for  the  various 
States.  The  problems  incident  to  our  highly  complex  modern 
industrial  civilization,  with  its  manifold  and  perplexing  tendencies 
both  for  good  and  for  evil,  are  far  less  sharply  ac^rentuated  in  the 
city  of  Washington  than  in  most  other  cities.  For  this  very  reason 
it  is  easier  to  deal  with  the  various  phases  of  these  problems  in  Wash 
ington,  and  the  District  of  Columbia  government  should  be  a  mode 
for  the  other  municipal  governments  of  the  Nation,  in  all  such  mas- 
ters as  supervision  of  the  housing  of  the  poor,  the  creation  of  small 
parks  in  the  districts  inhabited  by  the  poor,  in  laws  affecting  labor, 
in  laws  providing  for  the  taking  care  of  the  children,  in  truant  laws, 
and  in  providing  schools. 

In  the  vital  matter  of  taking  care  of  children,  much  advantage 
could  be  gained  by  a  careful  study  of  what  has  been  accomplished 


12 


ill  sucli  States  as  Illinois  and  Colorado  1)\-  the  jiueiiile  eourts.  The 
Avork  of  the  jiu'enile  court  is  reall\-  a  work  of  character  l)iiildinor. 
It  is  now  t)eiierally  reco<^ni/.ed  that  yoiiii<;'  bows  and  yonii<^-  oirls  who 
go  wrong  should  not  be  treated  as  criiiiiiials,  not  even  necessarily  as 
needing-  reforination,  but  rather  as  needing  to  have  their  characters 
formed,  and  for  this  end  to  have  them  tested  and  developed  by  a 
system  of  probation.  AInch  admirable  work  has  been  done  in  many 
of  onr  Commonwealths  by  earnest  men  and  women  who  have  made 
a  special  stndy  of  the  needs  of  those  classes  of  children  which 
fnrnish  the  greatest  nnmber  of  jnvenile  offenders,  and  therefore 
the  greatest  number  of  adult  offenders;  and  by  their  aid,  and  by 
profiting  by  the  experiences  of  the  different  States  and  cities  in 
these  matters,  it  would  be  easy  to  provide  a  good  code  for  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

Several  considerations  suggest  the  need  for  a  systematic  investi- 
gation into  and  improvement  of  housing  conditions  in  Washington. 
The  hidden  residential  allevs  are  breeding-  g-rounds  of  vice  and 
disease,  and  should  be  opened  into  minor  streets.  For  a  number  of 
years  influential  citizens  have  joined  with  the  District  Commission- 
ers in  the  vain  endeavor  to  secure  law^s  permitting  the  condemnation 
of  insanitary  dwellings.  The  local  death  rates,  especialh'  from  pre- 
ventable diseases,  are  so  unduh'  high  as  to  suggest  that  the  excep- 
tional wholesomeness  of  Washington's  better  sections  is  offset  by 
bad  conditions  in  her  poorer  neighborhoods.  A  special  "Commis- 
vsion  on  Housing  and  Health  Conditions  in  the  National  Capital  " 
would  not  only  bring  about  the  reformation  of  existing  evils,  but 
would  also  formulate  an  appropriate  building  code  to  protect  the 
city  from  mammoth  brick  tenements  and  other  evils  wdiich  threaten 
to  develop  here  as  the\'  have  in  other  cities.  That  the  Nation's 
Capital  should  be  made  a  model  for  other  municipalities  is  an  ideal 
which  appeals  to  all  patriotic  citizens  everywhere,  and  such  a 
special  Commission  might  map  out  and  organize  the  city's  future 
development  in  lines  of  civic  social  service,  just  as  Major  L' Enfant 
and  the  recent  Park  Commission  planned  the  arrangement  of  her 
streets  and  parks. 

It  is  mortifying  to  remember  that  Washington  has  no  compulsory 
school  attendance  law  and  that  careful  inquiries  indicate  the  habitual 
absence  from  school  of  some  twenty  per  cent  of  all  children  between 
the  ages  of  eight  and  fourteen.  It  must  be  evident  to  all  who  con- 
sider the  problems  of  neglected  child  life  or  the  benefits  of  compul- 
sory education  in  other  cities  that  one  of  the  most  urgent  needs  of 
the  National  Capital  is  a  law  requiring  the  school  attendance  of  all 


13 


children,  this  law  to  be  enforced  by  attendance  agents  directed  by 
the  board  of  edncation. 

Public  play  grounds  are  necessary  means  for  the  development  of 
wholesome  citizenship  in  modern  cities.  It  is  important  that  the 
work  inaugurated  here  through  voluntary  efforts  should  be  taken 
up  and  extended  through  Congressional  appropriation  of  funds  suf- 
ficient to  equip  and  maintain  numerous  convenient  small  play 
grounds  upon  land  which  can  be  secured  without  purchase  or  rental. 
It  is  also  desirable  that  small  vacant  places  be  purchased  and  reser\^ed 
as  small-park  play  grounds  in  densely  settled  sections  of  the  city 
which  now  have  no  public  open  spaces  and  are  destined  soon  to  be 
built  up  solidly.  All  these  needs  should  be  met  innnediately.  To 
meet  them  would  entail  expenses;  but  a  corresponding  saving  could 
be  made  by  stopping  the  building  of  streets  and  levelling  of  ground 
for  purposes  largely  speculative  in  outlying  parts  of  the  city. 

There  are  certain  offenders,  whose  criminality  takes  the  shape  of 
brutality  and  cruelty  towards  the  weak,  who  need  a  special  type  of 
punishment.  The  wife-beater,  for  example,  is  inadequately  pun- 
ished by  imprisonment;  for  imprisonment  may  often  mean  nothing 
to  him,  while  it  may  cause  hunger  and  want  to  the  wife  and  children 
who  have  been  the  victims  of  his  brutality.  Probabh-  some  form  of 
corporal  punishment  would  be  the  most  adequate  way  of  meeting 
this  kind  of  crime. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  grown  into  an  educational 
institution  with  a  facult}'  of  two  thousand  specialists  making  research 
into  all  the  sciences  of  production.  The  Congress  appropriates, 
directly  and  indirectly,  six  millions  of  dollars  annually  to  carr\'  on 
this  work.  It  reaches  every  State  and  Territory 
Agriculture.  in  the  Union  and  the  islands  of  the  sea  lately  come 

under  our  flag.  Cooperation  is  had  with  the  State 
experiment  stations,  and  with  many  other  institutions  and  individ- 
uals. The  world  is  carefully  searched  for  new  varieties  of  grains, 
fruits,  grasses,  vegetables,  trees,  and  shrubs,  suitable  to  various  local- 
ities in  our  country;  and  marked  benefit  to  our  producers  has  resulted. 

The  activities  of  our  age  in  lines  of  research  have  reached  the 
tillers  of  the  soil  and  inspired  them  with  ambition  to  know  more 
of  the  principles  that  govern  the  forces  of  nature  with  which 
they  have  to  deal.  Nearly  half  of  the  people  of  this  country 
devote  their  energies  to  growing  things  from  the  soil.  Until  a 
recent  date  little  has  been  done  to  prepare  these  millions  for  their 
life  work.  In  most  lines  of  human  activity  college-trained  men  are 
the  leaders.  The  farmer  had  no  opportunit)-  for  special  training 
3 


14 


until  the  C()ii<^ivss  iiKuk'  prox  isioii  for  it  fort)-  years  a<^().  Dnrino- 
these  years  pro^fress  lias  been  made  and  teaehers  have  been  pre- 
pared. Over  five  thousand  students  are  in  attendance  at  our  vState 
agricultural  colle<^es.  The  I'ederal  Governnient  ex])ends  ten  mil- 
lions of  dollars  annually  toward  this  education  and  for  research  in 
Washino-ton  and  in  the  se\  eral  States  and  Territories.  The  Depart- 
ment of  A^^-riculture  has  given  facilities  for  post-gradtiate  work  to 
five  hundred  youno-  men  durino-  the  last  seven  years,  preparino^  them 
for  advanced  lines  of  work  in  the  Department  and  in  the  State 
institutions. 

The  facts  concerning-  meteorology  and  its  relations  to  plant  and 
animal  life  are  being  systematically  inquired  into.  Temperature 
and  moisture  are  controlling  factors  in  all  agricultural  operations. 
The  seasons  of  the  cyclones  of  the  Caribbean  Sea  and  their  paths 
are  being  forecasted  with  increasing  accuracy.  The  cold  winds  that 
come  from  the  north  are  anticipated  and  their  times  and  intensity 
told  to  farmers,  gardeners,  and  fruiterers  in  all  southern  localities. 

We  sell  two  htmdred  and  fifty  million  dollars'  worth  of  animals 
and  animal  products  to  foreign  countries  ever)'  }'ear,  in  addition  to 
supph'ing  our  own  people  more  cheaph'  and  abundantly  than  any 
other  nation  is  able  to  provide  for  its  people.  Successful  manufac- 
turing depends  primarily  on  cheap  food,  which  accounts  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  for  our  growth  in  this  direction.  The  Department 
of  Agriculture,  by  careful  inspection  of  meats,  guards  the  health  of 
otir  people  and  gives  clean  bills  of  health  to  deserving  exports;  it 
is  prepared  to  deal  promptly  with  imported  diseases  of  animals,  and 
maintain  the  excellence  of  our  flocks  and  herds  in  this  respect. 
There  should  be  an  annual  census  of  the  live  stock  of  the  Nation. 

We  sell  abroad  about  six  hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of  plants 
and  their  products  ever}-  year.  Strenuotis  efforts  are  being  made 
to  import  from  foreign  countries  such  grains  as  are  suitable  to  our 
\'arying  localities.  Seven  years  ago  we  bought  three-fourths  of  our 
rice;  by  helping  the  rice  growers  on  the  Gulf  coast  to  secure  seeds 
from  the  Orient  stiited  to  their  conditions,  and  by  giving  them 
adequate  protection,  they  now  stipply  home  demand  and  export  to 
the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  Sea  and  to  other  rice-growing  countries. 
Wheat  and  other  grains  have  been  imported  from  light-rainfall 
countries  to  our  lands  in  the  W^est  and  Southwest  that  have  not 
grown  crops  because  of  light  precipitation,  resulting  in  an  extensive 
addition  to  our  cropping  area  and  our  home-making  territory  that 
can  not  be  irrigated.  Ten  million  bushels  of  first-class  macaroni 
wheat  w^ere  grown  from  these  experimental  importations  last  year. 


15 


Fruits  suitable  to  our  soils  and  climates  are  being  imported  from  all 
the  countries  of  the  Old  World — the  fig  from  Turkey,  the  almond 
from  Spain,  the  date  from  Algeria,  the  mango  from  India.  We  are 
helping  our  fruit  growers  to  get  their  crops  into  European  markets 
by  studying  methods  of  preservation  through  refrigeration,  packing, 
and  handling,  which  have  been  quite  successful.  We  are  helping 
our  hop  growers  by  importing  varieties  that  ripen  earlier  and  later 
than  the  kinds  they  have  been  raising,  thereby  lengthening  the  har- 
vesting season.  The  cotton  crop  of  the  countr}'  is  threatened  with 
root  rot,  the  bollworm,  and  the  boll  weevil.  Our  pathologists  will 
find  immune  varieties  that  will  resist  the  root  disease,  and  the  boll- 
worm  can  be  dealt  with,  but  the  boll  weevil  is  a  serious  menace  to 
the  cotton  crop.  It  is  a  Central  American  insect  that  has  become 
acclimated  in  Texas  and  has  done  great  damage.  A  scientist  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  has  found  the  weevil  at  home  in  Guate- 
mala being  kept  in  check  by  an  ant,  which  has  been  brought  to  our 
cotton  fields  for  observation.  It  is  hoped  that  it  may  serve  a  good 
purpose. 

The  soils  of  the  country  are  getting  attention  from  the  farmer's 
standpoint,  and  interesting  results  are  following.  We  have  dupli- 
cates of  the  soils  that  grow  the  wrapper  tobacco  in  Sumatra  and  the 
filler  tobacco  in  Cuba.  It  will  be  only  a  question  of  time  when  the 
large  amounts  paid  to  these  countries  will  be  paid  to  our  own  peo- 
ple. The  reclamation  of  alkali  lands  is  progressing,  to  give  object 
lessons  to  our  people  in  methods  by  which  worthless  lands  ma}'  be 
made  productive. 

The  insect  friends  and  enemies  of  the  farmer  are  getting  attention. 
The  enemy  of  the  San  Jose  scale  was  found  near  the  Great  Wall  of 
China,  and  is  now^  cleaning  up  all  our  orchards.  The  fig-fertilizing 
insect  imported  from  Turkey  has  helped  to  establish  an  industry  in 
California  that  amounts  to  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  tons  of  dried 
figs  annually,  and  is  extending  over  the  Pacific  coast.  A  parasitic 
fly  from  South  Africa  is  keeping  in  subjection  the  black  scale,  the 
worst  pest  of  the  orange  and  lemon  industry  in  California. 

Careful  preliminary  work  is  being  done  towards  producing  our 
own  silk.  The  mulberry  is  being  distributed  in  large  numbers, 
eggs  are  being  imported  and  distributed,  improved  reels  were 
imported  from  Europe  last  year,  and  two  expert  reelers  were  brought 
to  Washington  to  reel  the  crop  of  cocoons  and  teach  the  art  to  our 
own  people. 

The  crop-reporting  system  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  is 
being  brought  closer  to  accurac}-  ever}-  }  ear.    It  has  two  hundred 


i6 


and  fifty  thousand  reporters  selected  from  peo])le  in  ei^^ht  vocations 
in  life.  It  has  arrantrenients  with  most  Kiiropean  countries  for  inter- 
chan<;e  of  estimates,  so  that  our  people  may  know  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible with  what  they  must  compete. 

Durini^'  the  two  and  a  half  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  pas- 
sage of  the  reclamation  act  rapid  progress  has  been  made  in  the  sur- 
veys and  examinations  of  the  opportunities  for  reclamation  in  the 

thirteen  States  and  three  Territories  of  the  arid 
Irrigation.  West.     Construction  has  already  been  begun  on 

the  largest  and  most  important  of  the  irrigation 
works,  and  plans  are  being  completed  for  works  which  will  utilize 
the  funds  now  available.  The  operations  are  being  carried  on  by 
the  Reclamation  Service,  a  corps  of  engineers  selected  through 
competitive  civil-service  examinations.  This  corps  includes  experi- 
enced consulting  and  constructing  engineers  as  well  as  various  experts 
in  mechanical  and  legal  matters,  and  is  composed  largely  of  men 
who  have  spent  most  of  their  lives  in  practical  affairs  connected 
with  irrigation.  The  larger  problems  have  been  sol\-ed  and  it  now 
remains  to  execute  with  care,  economy,  and  thoroughness  the  work 
which  has  been  laid  out.  All  important  details  are  being  carefully  con- 
sidered by  boards  of  consulting  engineers,  selected  for  their  thorough 
knowledge  and  practical  experience.  Each  project  is  taken  up  on 
the  ground  hy  competeilt  men  and  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  creation  of  prosperous  homes,  and  of  prompth'  refunding  to  the 
Treasury  the  cost  of 'construction.  The  reclamation  act  has  been 
found  to  be  remarkabh'  complete  and  effective,  and  so  broad  in  its 
provisions  that  a  wide  range  of  undertakings  has  been  possible 
under  it.  At  the  same  time,  economy  is  guaranteed  by  the  fact 
that  the  funds  must  ultimately  be  returned  to  be  used  over  again. 

It  is  the  cardinal  principle  of  the  forest-reserve  policy  of  this 
Administration  that  the  reserves  are  for  use.    Whatever  interferes 

with  the  use  of  their  resources  is  to  be  avoided  by 
Forests.  every  possible  means.    But  these  resources  must 

be  used  in  such  a  w^ay  as  to  make  them  permanent. 
The  forest  policy  of  the  Government  is  just  now  a  subject  of  vivid 
public  interest  throughout  the  West  and  to  the  people  of  the  United 
vStates  in  general.  The  forest  reserves  themselves  are  of  extreme 
value  to  the  present  as  well  as  to  the  future  welfare  of  all  the  west- 
ern public-land  States.  They  powerfully  affect  the  use  and  disposal 
of  the  public  lands.  The>'  are  of  special  importance  because  they 
preserve  the  water  supply  and  the  supply  of  timber  for  domestic 
purposes,  and  so  promote  settlement  under  the  reclamation  act. 


17 


Indeed,  they  are  essential  to  the  welfare  of  every  one  of  the  great 
interests  of  the  West. 

Forest  reserves  are  created  for  two  principal  pnrposes.  The  first 
is  to  preserve  the  water  supply.  This  is  their  most  important  use. 
The  principal  users  of  the  water  thus  preserved  are  irrigation 
ranchers  and  settlers,  cities  and  towns  to  whom  their  municipal 
water  supplies  are  of  the  very  first  importance,  users  and  furnishers 
of  water  power,  and  the  users  of  water  for  domestic,  manufacturing, 
mining,  and  other  purposes.  All  these  are  directly  dependent  upon 
the  forest  reserves. 

The  second  reason  for  which  forest  reserves  are  created  is  to  pre- 
serve the  timber  supply  for  various  classes  of  wood  users.  Among 
the  more  important  of  these  are  settlers  under  the  reclamation  act 
and  other  acts,  for  whom  a  cheap  and  accessible  supply  of  timber 
for  domestic  uses  is  absolutely  necessary;  miners  and  prospectors, 
who  are  in  serious  danger  of  losing  their  timber  supply  by  fire  or 
through  export  by  lumber  companies  when  timber  lands  adjacent 
to  their  mines  pass  into  private  ownership;  lumbermen,  transpor- 
tation companies,  builders,  and  commercial  interests  in  general. 

Although  the  wisdom  of  creating  forest  reserves  is  nearly  every- 
w^here  heartily  recognized,  yet  in  a  few  localities  there  has  been 
misunderstanding  and  complaint.  The  following  statement  is  there- 
fore desirable: 

The  forest-reser\'e  polic}'  can  be  successful  onh'  when  it  has  the 
full  support  of  the  people  of  the  West.  It  can  not  safely,  and  should 
not  in  any  case,  be  imposed  upon  them  against  their  wull.  But 
neither  can  we  accept  the  views  of  those  whose  only  interest  in  the 
forest  is  temporary;  who  are  anxious  to  reap  what  they  have  not 
sown  and  then  move  away,  leaving  desolation  behind  them.  On 
the  contrar}',  it  is  everywhere  and  always  the  interest  of  the  perma- 
nent settler  and  the  permanent  business  man,  the  man  with  a  stake 
in  the  country,  wdiich  must  be  considered  and  which  must  decide. 

The  making  of  forest  reserves  within  railroad  and  wagon-road 
land-grant  limits  will  hereafter,  as  for  the  past  three  years,  be  so 
managed  as  to  prevent  the  issue,  under  the  act  of  June  4,  1897,  of 
base  for  exchange  or  lieu  selection  (usually  called  scrip).  In  all 
cases  where  forest  reserves  within  areas  covered  by  land  grants 
appear  to  be  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  settlers,  miners,  or  others, 
the  Government  lands  within  such  proposed  forest  reserves  will,  as 
in  the  recent  past,  be  withdrawn  from  sale  or  entry  pending  the 
completion  of  such  negotiations  with  the  owners  of  the  land  grants 
as  will  prevent  the  creation  of  so-called  scrip. 


i8 


It  was  forincrh'  the  custom  to  make  forest  reserves  without  first 
Sfcttini>-  defiuite  aud  detailed  iuforuiatiou  as  to  tlie  cliaracter 
of  land  and  tind)er  within  their  l)()undaries.  This  method  of 
action  often  resulted  in  badh-  chosen  ])oundaries  and  consec{uent 
injustice  to  settlers  and  others.  Therefore  this  Administration 
adopted  the  present  method  of  first  withdrawing;-  the  land  from 
dis])osal,  followed  by  careful  examination  on  the  t>Tound  and  the 
preparation  of  detailed  maps  and  descriptions,  before  any  forest 
reserve  is  created. 

I  ha\e  repeatedly  called  attention  to  the  conftision  wdiich  exists 
in  Government  forest  matters  becatise  the  work  is  scattered  among 
three  independent  organizations.  The  United  States  is  the  only 
one  of  the  great  nations  in  which  the  forest  w^ork  of  the  Government 
is  not  concentrated  under  one  department,  in  consonance  with  the 
plainest  dictates  of  good  administration  and  common  sense.  The 
present  arrangement  is  bad  from  every  point  of  view.  Merely  to 
mention  it  is  to  prove  that  it  should  be  terminated  at  once.  As  I 
have  repeatedly  recommended,  all  the  forest  work  of  the  Government 
should  be  concentrated  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  where  the 
larger  part  of  that  work  is  already  done,  where  practically  all  of  the 
trained  foresters  of  the  Government  are  employed,  wdiere  chiefly  in 
Washington  there  is  comprehensive  first-hand  knowledge  of  the 
problems  of  the  reserv^es  acquired  on  the  ground,  where  all  problems 
relating  to  growth  from  the  soil  are  already  gathered,  and  wdiere  all 
the  sciences  auxiliary  to  forestry-  are  at  hand  for  prompt  and  effect- 
ive cooperation.  These  reasons  are  decisive  in  themselves,  but  it 
should  be  added  that  the  great  organizations  of  citizens  whose  inter- 
ests are  affected  b}-  the  forest  reserves,  such  as  the  National  Live 
Stock  Association,  the  National  Wool  Growers'  Association,  the 
American  Alining  Congress,  the  National  Irrigation  Congress,  and 
the  National  Board  of  Trade,  have  tmiformly,  emphatically,  and 
most  of  them  repeatedly,  expressed  themselves  in  favor  of  placing 
all  Government  forest  work  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
because  of  the  peculiar  adaptation  of  that  Department  for  it.  It 
is  true,  also,  that  the  forest  services  of  nearly  all  the  great  nations 
of  the  world  are  under  the  respective  departments  of  agriculture, 
while  in  but  two  of  the  smaller  nations  and  in  one  colony  are  they 
under  the  department  of  the  interior.  This  is  the  result  of  long 
and  varied  experience  and  it  agrees  fully  with  the  requirements  of 
good  administration  in  our  own  case. 

The  creation  of  a  forest  service  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
will  have  for  its  important  results: 


19 


First.  A  better  handling  of  all  forest  work,  becanse  it  will  be  under 
a  single  head,  and  because  the  vast  and  indispensabre  experience  of 
the  Department  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  forest  reserves,  to 
forestry  in  general,  and  to  other  forms  of  production  from  the  soil, 
will  be  easily  and  rapidly  accessible. 

Second.  The  reserves  themselves,  being  handled  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  man  in  the  field,  instead  of  the  man  in  the  office,  will 
be  more  easily  and  more  widely  useful  to  the  people  of  the  West 
than  has  been  the  case  hitherto. 

Third.  Within  a  comparatively  short  time  the  reserves  will  become 
self-supporting.  This  is  important^  because  continually  and  rapidly 
increasing  appropriations  will  be  necessary  for  the  proper  care  of 
this  exceedingly  important  interest  of  the  Nation,  and  the}-  can  and 
should  be  offset  by  returns  from  the  National  forests.  Under  similar 
circumstances  the  forest  possessions  of  other  great  nations  form  an 
important  source  of  revenue  to  their  governments. 

Ever}-  administrative  officer  concerned  is  convinced  of  the  neces- 
sity for  the  proposed  consolidation  of  forest  work  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  and  I  myself  have  urged  it  more  than  once  in 
former  messages.  Again  I  commend  it  to  the  earh'  and  fa\'orable 
consideration  of  the  Congress.  The  interests  of  the  Nation  at 
large  and  of  the  West  in  particular  have  suffered  greatly  because  of 
the  delay. 

I  call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  again  to  the  report  and  rec- 
ommendation of  the  Commission  on  the  Public 
Public  lands.  Lands  forwarded  by  me  to  the  second  session  of 

the  present  Congress.  The  Commission  has  prose- 
cuted its  investigations  actively  during  the  past  season,  and  a  second 
report  is  now  in  an  advanced  stage  of  preparation. 

In  connecfion  with  the  work  of  the  forest  resen.'es  I  desire  again 
to  urge  upon  the  Congress  the  importance  of  authorizing  the  Presi- 
dent to  set  aside  certain  portions  of  these  reser\-es 
Game  preserves.  or  other  public  lands  as  game  refuges  for  the 
preservation  of  the  bison,  the  w^apiti,  and  other 
large  beasts  once  so  abundant  in  our  woods  and  mountains  and 
on  our  great  plains,  and  now  tending  toward  extinction.  Every 
support  should  be  given  to  the  authorities  of  the  Yellowstone  Park 
in  their  successful  efforts  at  preserving  the  large  creatures  therein; 
and  at  very  little  expense  portions  of  the  public  domain  in  other 
regions  which  are  wholly  unsuited  to  agricultural  settlement  could 
be  similarly  utilized.  We  owe  it  to  future  generations  to  keep  alive 
the  noble  and  beautiful  creatures  which  by  their  presence  add  such 


20 


distinctive  character  to  the  American  wilderness.  The  limits  of  the 
Yellowstone  l^rk  shonld  be  extended  sonthwards.  The  Canyon  of 
the  Colorado  shonld  be  made  a  national  park;  and  the  national-park 
system  shonld  inclnde  the  Yosemite  and  as  man)-  as  possible  of  the 
(proves  of  j^iant  trees  in  California. 

The  veterans  of  the  Civil  War  have  a  claim 
Pensions.  npon  the  Nation  snch  as  no  other  body  of  onr 

citizens  possess.  The  Pension  Bnrean  has  never 
in  its  history  been  manao^ed  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner  than  is 
now  the  case. 

The  progress  of  the  Indians  toward  civilization,  thon^^h  not  rapid, 
is  perhaps  all  that  conld  be  hoped  for  in  view  of  the  circnnistances. 
A\'ithin  the  past  year  many  tribes  have  shown,  in  a  degree  greater 

than  ever  before,  an  appreciation  of  the  necessity 
Indians.  of  w^ork.    This  changed  attitnde  is  in  part  dne  to 

the  policy  recently  pnrsned  of  redncing  the  amonnt 
of  snbsistence  to  the  Indians,  and  thus  forcing  them,  through  sheer 
necessity,  to  work  for  a  livelihood.  The  policy,  though  severe,  is  a 
useful  one,  but  it  is  to  be  exercised  onh'  with  judgment  and  with. 
a  full  understanding  of  the  conditions  which  exist  in  each  community 
for  which  it  is  intended.  On  or  near  the  Indian  reservations  there 
is  usually  v-ery  little  demand  for  labor,  and  if  the  Indians  are  to  earn 
their  living  and  when  work  can  not  be  furnished  from  outside  (w^hich 
is  alwa}'s  preferable),  then  it  nuist  be  furnished  b}'  the  Government. 
Practical  instruction  of  this  kind  w^ould  in  a  few-  years  result  in 
the  forming  of  habits  of  regular  industry,  which  would  render  the 
Indian  a  producer  and  would  effect  a  great  reduction  in  the  cost  of 
his  maintenance. 

It  is  commonly  declared  that  the  slow  advance  of  the  Indians  is 
due  to  the  unsatisfactory  character  of  the  men  appointed  to  take 
immediate  charge  of  them,  and  to  some  extent  this  is  true.  While 
the  standard  of  the  employees  in  the  Indian  Service  shows  great 
improvement  over  that  of  bygone  years,  and  while  actual  corruption 
or  flagrant  dishonesty  is  now  the  rare  exception,  it  is  nevertheless 
the  fact  that  the  salaries  paid  Indian  agents  are  not  large  enough  to 
attract  the  best  men  to  that  field  of  work.  To  achieve  satisfactory 
results  the  official  in  charge  of  an  Indian  tribe  should  possess  the 
high  qualifications  wdiich  are  required  in  the  manager  of  a  large 
business,  but  only  in  exceptional  cases  is  it  possible  to  secure  men 
of  such  a  type  for  these  positions.  ]\Iuch  better  service,  however, 
might  be  obtained  from  those  now  holding  the  places  were  it  prac- 
ticable to  get  out  of  them  the  best  that  is  in  them,  and  this  should 


21 


be  done  by  bringing  them  constantly  into  closer  toncli  with  their 
superior  officers.  An  agent  who  has  been  content  to  draw  his  salary, 
giving  in  return  the  least  possible  equivalent  in  effort  and  serv-ice, 
may,  by  proper  treatment,  by  suggestion  and  encouragement,  or  per- 
sistent urging,  be  stimulated  to  greater  effort  and  induced  to  take  a 
more  active  personal  interest  in  his  work. . 

Under  existing  conditions  an  Indian  agent  in  the  distant  West 
may  be  wholly  out  of  touch  with  the  office  of  the  Indian  Bureau. 
He  may  very  well  feel  that  no  one  takes  a  personal  interest  in  him 
or  his  efforts.  Certain  routine  duties  in  the  way  of  reports  and 
accounts  are  required  of  him,  but  there  is  no  one  with  whom  he 
may  intelligently  consult  on  matters  vital  to  his  work,  except  after 
long  delay.  Such  a  man  would  be  greatly  encouraged  and  aided  by 
personal  contact  with  some  one  whose  interest  in  Indian  affairs  and 
whose  authority  in  the  Indian  Bureau  were  greater  than  his  own, 
and  such  contact  would  be  certain  to  arouse  and  constantly  increase 
the  interest  he  takes  in  his  work. 

The  distance  which  separates  the  agents — the  workers  in  the 
field — from  the  Indian  Office  in  Washington  is  a  chief  obstacle  to 
Indian  progress.  Whatever  shall  more  closely  unite  these  two 
branches  of  the  Indian  Service,  and  shall  enable  them  to  cooperate 
more  heartily  and  more  effectively,  will  be  for  the  increased  efficiency 
of  the  work  and  the  betterment  of  the  race  for  whose  improvement 
the  Indian  Bureau  was  established.  The  appointment  of  a  field 
assistant  to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  would  be  certain  to 
insure  this  good  end.  Such  an  official,  if  possessed  of  the  requisite 
energy  and  deep  interest  in  the  work,  would  be  a  most  efficient 
factor  in  bringing  into  closer  relationship  and  a  more  direct  union 
of  effort  the  Bureau  in  Washington  and  its  agents  in  the  field;  and 
with  the  cooperation  of  its  branches  thus  secured  the  Indian  Bureau 
w^ould,  in  measure  fuller  than  ever  before,  lift  up  the  savage  toward 
that  self-help  and  self-reliance  which  constitute  the  man. 

In  1907  there  will  be  held  at  Hampton  Roads  the  tricentennial 

celebration  of  the  settlement  at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  with  which 

the  histor}'  of  what  has  now  become  the  United 

Jamestown  States  reallv  beo-ins.    I  commend  this  to  vour 

1  ncentennial.  .  ^    .  c     '  • 

lavorable  consideration.    It  is  an  event  01  prime 

historic  significance,  in  which  all  the  people  of  the  United  States 
should  feel,  and  should  show,  great  and  general  interest. 

In  the  Post-Office  Department  the  service  has  increased  inefficiency, 
and  conditions  as  to  revenue  and  expenditure  continue  satisfac- 
tory.   The  increase  of  revenue  during  the  year  was  $9,358,181.10, 


22 


or  6.9  per  cent,  the  total  receipts  aiiiountino-  to  $143,382,624.34. 
The  expenditures  ^vere  i^i 52,362,1 1 6.70,  an  increase  of  abont  9  per 
cent  over  the  previons  year,  beino-  thns  $8,979,492.36  in  excess  of 
the  cnrrent  re\enue.  Inclnded  in  these  expenditnres  was  a  total 
appropriation  of  $12,956,637.35  for  the  continnation  and  extension 
of  the.rnral  free-delivery  service,  which  was  an 
Postal  service.  increase  of  $4,902,237.35  over  the  anionnt  ex- 

pended for  this  purpose  in  the  precedin^^  fiscal 
year.  Large  as  this  expenditure  has  been  the  l)eneficent  results 
attained  in  extending  the  free  distribution  of  mails  to  the  residents 
of  rural  districts  have  justified  the  wisdom  of  the  outlay.  Statistics 
brought  down  to  the  ist  of  October,  1904,  show  that  on  that  date 
there  were  27,138  rural  routes  established,  serving  approximately 
12,000,000  of  people  in  rural  districts  remote  from  post-offices,  and 
that  there  were  pending  at  that  time  3,859  petitions  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  new  rural  routes.  Unquestionably  some  part  of  the 
general  increase  in  receipts  is  due  to  the  increased  postal  facilities 
wdiich  the  rural  service  has  afforded.  The  revenues  have  also  been 
aided  greatly  by  amendments  in  the  classification  of  mail  matter, 
and  the  curtailment  of  abuses  of  the  second-class  mailing  privilege. 
The  average  increase  in  the  volume  of  mail  matter  for  the  period 
beginning  with  1902  and  ending  June,  1905  (that  portion  for  1905 
being  estimated),  is  40.-47  per  cent,  as  compared  with  25.46  per  cent 
for  the  period  immediately  preceding,  and  15.92  for  the  four-year 
period  immediately  preceding  that. 

Our  consular  system  needs  improvement.  Salaries  should  be 
substituted  for  fees,  and  the  proper  classification,  grading,  and  trans- 
fer of  consular  officers  should  be  provided.  I  am  not  prepared  to 
sa}'  that  a  competitive  s}\stem  of  examinations 
Consular  service.  for  appointment  would  work  well;  but  by  law^ 
it  should  be  provided  that  consuls  should  be 
familiar,  according  to  places  for  which  they  apply,  wath  the  French, 
German,  or  Spanish  languages,  and  should  possess  acquaintance  with 
the  resources  of  the  United  States. 

The  collection  of  objects  of  art  contemplated  in  section  5586  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  should  be  designated  and 
National  Gallery  established  as  a  National  Gallery  of  Art;  and  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  should  be  authorized  to 
accept  any  additions  to  said  collection  that  may  be  received  by 
gift,  bequest,  or  devise. 

It  is  desirable  to  enact  a  proper  National  quarantine  law.  It  is 
most  undesirable  that  a  State  should  on  its  ow^n  initiative  enforce 


23 


quarantine  regulations  which  are  in  effect  a  restriction  upon  inter- 
state and  international  commerce.    The  question  should  properly 
be  assumed  by  the  Government  alone.  The 

National  Suro-eon-General  of  the  National  Public  Health 

quarantine  law.  ,    .  .    .  ^      .      ,  , 

and  Marnie-Hospital  Service  lias  repeatedly  and 

convinciiig-ly  set  forth  the  need  for  such  legislation. 

I  call  your  attention  to  the  great  extravagance  in  printing  and 

binding  Government  publications,  and  especially  to  the  fact  that 

altogether  too  many  of  these  publications  are  printed.    There  is  a 

constant  tendenc}'  to  increase  their  number  and  their  volume.  It 

is  an  understatement  to  sa}'  that  no  appreciable 

Extravagance  harm  would  be  caused  bv,  and  substantial  benefit 

in  printing.  '        .         ^  , 

would   accrue  irom,  decreasing  the  amount  oi 

printing  now  done  by  at  least  one-half.  Probably  the  great  majorit}' 
of  the  Go\'ernnieiit  reports  and  the  like  now  printed  are  never  read 
at  all,  and  furthermore  the  printing  of  much  of  the  material  con- 
tained in  many  of  the  remaining  ones  serves  no  useful  purpose 
whatever. 

The  attention  of  the  Congress  should  be  especially  given  to  the 
currency  question,  and  that  the  standing  committees  on  the  matter 

in  the  two  Houses  charged  with  the  duty,  take 
Currency.  up  the  matter  of  our  currency  and  see  whether  it 

is  not  possible  to  secure  an  agreement  in  the  busi- 
ness world  for  bettering  the  system;  the  committees  should  consider 
the  question  of  the  retirement  of  the  greenbacks  and  the  problem 
of  securing  in  our  currenc}-  such  elasticity  as  is  consistent  with 
safety.  Ever}'  silver  dollar  should  be  made  by  law  redeemable  in 
gold  at  the  option  of  the  holder. 

I  especiallv  commend  to  vour  immediate  atten- 
Merchant  marine.       ^-       ^i  '  ^    r  '  i  ^ 

tion  tlie  encouragement  oi  our  merchant  marine 

by  appropriate  legislation. 

The  growing  importance  of  the  Orient  as  a  field  for  American 
exports  drew^  from  my  predecessor,  President  McKinley,  an  urgent 
request  for  its  special  consideration  by  the  Con- 
Oriental  markets.       gress.    In  his  message  of  1898  he  stated: 

"  In  this  relation,  as  showing  the  peculiar  vol- 
ume and  value  of  our  trade  with  China  and  the  peculiarly  favorable 
conditions  which  exist  for  their  expansion  in  the  normal  course  of 
trade,  I  refer  to  the  communication  addressed  to  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Represeiitati\-es  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  on  the 
I4tli  of  last  June,  with  its  accompanying  letter  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  recoiiiiiieiidiiig  an  appropriation  for  a  commission  to  study 


24 


the  indnslrial  and  coiinncrcial  conditions  in  tlic  Chinese  Knipire 
and  to  report  as  to  the  opportnnities  for  and  the  obstacles  to  the 
enlaro^enient  of  markets  in  China  for  the  raw  prodncts  and  niann- 
factnres  of  the  United  States.  Action  was  not  taken  thereon  dnrin.i^^ 
the  last  session.  I  cordially  nr^^c  that  the  reconinicndation  receive 
at  yonr  hands  the  consideration  which  its  importance  and  timeliness 
merit/'* 

In  his  annual  messao;e  of  1899  he  attain  called  attention  to  this 
recommendation,  quotin^^^  it,  and  stated  further: 

''I  now  renew  this  recommendation,  as  the  importance  of  the 
subject  has  steadih'  grown  since  it  was  first  submitted  to  yon,  and 
no  time  should  be  lost  in  studyino;  for  ourselves  the  resources  of 
this  great  field  for  American  trade  and  enterprise. 

The  importance  of  securing  proper  information  and  data  with  a 
view  to  the  enlargement  of  our  trade  with  Asia  is  undiminished. 
Our  consular  representatives  in  China  have  strongly  urged  a  place 
for  permanent  display  of  American  products  in  some  prominent 
trade  center  of  that  Empire,  under  Government  control  and  manage- 
ment, as  an  effective  means  of  advancing  our  export  trade  therein. 
I  call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  to  the  desirability  of  carrying 
out  these  suggestions. 

In  dealing  with  the  questions  of  immigration  and  naturalization 
it  is  indispensable  to  keep  certain  facts  ever  before  the  minds  of 
those  who  share  in  enacting  the  laws.  First  and  foremost,  let  us 
remember  that  the  question  of  being  a  good  Amer- 
Immigration  and  ^^^^^  j^^^  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  a  man's 
naturalization.  .  .    ,    ,  ,        .    ,  ,        •  1    1  • 

birthplace  any  more  than  it  has  to  do  with  his 

creed.  In  every  generation  from  the  time  this  Government  was 
founded  men  of  foreign  birth  have  stood  in  the  ver)-  foremost 
rank  of  good  citizenship,  and  that  not  merely  in  one  but  in  every 
field  of  American  activity;  while  to  try  to  draw  a  distinction 
between  the  man  whose  parents  came  to  this  country  and  the 
man  whose  ancestors  came  to  it  several  generations  back  is  a  mere 
absurdity.  Good  Americanism  is  a  matter  of  heart,  of  conscience, 
of  loft}-  aspiration,  of  sound  common  sense,  but  not  of  birthplace 
or  of  creed.  The  medal  of  honor,  the  highest  prize  to  be  won 
by  those  who  serve  in  the  Army  and  the  Navy  of  the  United  States 
decorates  men  born  here,  and  it  also  decorates  men  born  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  in  Germany,  in  Scandinavia,  in  France,  and 
doubtless  in  other  countries  also.  In  the  field  of  statesmanship, 
in  the  field  of  business,  in  the  field  of  philanthropic  endeavor,  it  is 
equally  true  that  among  the  men  of  whom  we  are  most  proud  as 


25 


Americans  no  distinction  whatever  can  be  drawn  between  those 
who  themselves  or  whose  parents  came  over  in  sailing  ship  or 
steamer  from  across  the  water  and  those  whose  ancestors  stepped 
ashore  into  the  wooded  wilderness  at  Plymonth  or  at  the  month  of 
the  Hndson,  the  Delaware,  or  the  James  nearly  three  centuries  ago. 
No  fellow-citizen  of  ours  is  entitled  to  any  peculiar  regard  because 
of  the  wa}'  in  which  he  worships  his  INIaker,  or  because  of  the  birth- 
place of  himself  or  his  parents,  nor  should  he  be  in  any  way  dis- 
criminated against  therefor.  Each  must  stand  on  his  worth  as  a 
man  and  each  is  entitled  to  be  judged  solely  thereby. 

There  is  no  danger  of  having  too  man}-  immigrants  of  the  right 
kind.  It  makes  no  difference  from  what  country  they  come.  If 
they  are  sound  in  body  and  in  mind,  and,  above  all,  if  they  are  of 
good  character,  so  that  we  can  rest  assured  that  their  children  and 
grandchildren  will  be  worthy  fellow-citizens  of  our  children  and 
grandchildren,  then  we  should  welcome  them  with  cordial  hos- 
pitality. 

But  the  citizenship  of  this  country  should  not  be  debased.  It 
is  vital  that  we  should  keep  high  the  standard  of  well-being  among 
our  wage-workers,  and  therefore  we  should  not  admit  masses  of 
men  whose  standards  of  living  and  whose  personal  customs  and 
habits  are  such  that  the}'  tend  to  lower  the  level  of  the  Amer- 
ican wage-worker;  and  above  all  we  should  not  admit  any  man 
of  an  unworth}'  type,  an}'  man  concerning  whom  we  can  sa}'  that 
he  will  himself  be  a  bad  citizen,  or  that  his  children  and  grand- 
children will  detract  from  instead  of  adding  to  the  sum  of  the  good 
citizenship  of  the  country.  Similarly  we  should  take  the  greatest 
care  about  naturalization.  Fraudulent  naturalization,  the  naturali- 
zation of  improper  persons,  is  a  curse  to  our  Government;  and  it  is 
the  affair  of  every  honest  voter,  wherever  born,  to  see  that  no  fraud- 
ulent voting  is  allowed,  that  no  fraud  in  connection  with  naturali- 
zation is  permitted. 

In  the  past  }'ear  the  cases  of  false,  fraudulent,  and  improper  natu- 
ralization of  aliens  coming  to  the  attention  of  the  executive  branches 
of  the  Government  have  increased  to  an  alarming  degree.  Exten- 
sive sales  of  forged  certificates  of  naturalization  have  been  discovered, 
as  well  as  many  cases  of  naturalization  secured  b}'  perjur}'  and  fraud; 
and  in  addition,  instances  have  accumulated  showing  that  many 
courts  issue  certificates  of  naturalization  careless!}'  and  upon  insuffi- 
cient evidence. 

Under  the  Constitution  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  Congress  ''to 
establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,"  and  numerous  laws  have 


26 


from  time  to  time  l)eeii  enacted  for  that '])nr|)ose,  wliicli  have  l)eeii 
supplemented  in  a  few  States  by  State  laws  liavino^  special  applica- 
tion. The  Federal  statutes  permit  naturalization  by  anv  court  of 
record  in  the  United  vStates  luwino-  common-law  jiu'isdiction  and  a 
seal  and  clerk,  except  the  police  court  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  nearh-  all  these  courts  exercise  this  important  function.  It 
results  that  where  so  many  courts  of  such  var\'in(^  g-radcs  ha\e 
jurisdiction,  there  is  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  rules  applied  in  con- 
ferring naturalization.  Some  cotirts  are  strict  and  others  lax.  An 
alien  who  may  secure  naturalization  in  one  place  mio;ht  be  denied 
it  in  another,  and  the  intent  of  the  constitutional  provision  is  in  fact 
defeated.  Furthermore,  the  certificates  of  naturalization  issued  by 
the  courts  differ  widely  in  wording  and  appearance,  and  when  they 
are  brought  into  use  in  foreign  countries,  are  freqtienth'  stibject  to 
suspicion. 

There  should  be  a  comprehensive  revision  of  the  nattiralization 
laws.  The  courts  having  powder  to  naturalize  should  be  definiteh* 
named  by  national  authority;  the  testimony  upon  which  naturaliza- 
tion ma}'  be  conferred  should  be  definitely  pre- 
Naturahzation  laws  scribed;  publication  of  impending  naturalization 
should  be  revised.  i  •      •         1111  •     -1  •       -1  r  1  • 

applications  should  be  required  m  advance  or  their 

hearing  in  court;  the  form  and  wording  of  all  certificates  issued 
should  be  uniform  throughout  the  couiitr}-,  and  the  courts  should 
be  required  to  make  returns  to  the  Secretary  of  State  at  stated 
periods  of  all  naturalizations  conferred. 

Not  only  are  the  laws  relating  to  naturalization  now  defective, 
but  those  relating  to  citizenship  of  the  United  States  ought  also  to 
be  made  the  subject  of  scientific  inquiry  with  a  vie\v  to  probable 
further  legislation.  By  what  acts  expatriation 
Laws  concerning  ^^^^^^  -^^  assumed  to  have  been  accomplished,  how 
long  an  American  citizen  mav  reside  abroad  and 
receive  the  protection  of  our  passport,  whether  any  degree  of  pro- 
tection should  be  extended  to  one  who  has  made  the  declaration  of 
intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  but  has  not  secured 
naturalization,  are  questions  of  serious  import,  involving  personal 
rights  and  often  producing  friction  betw^eeii  this  Government  and 
foreign  governments.  Yet  upon  these  questions  our  laws  are  silent. 
I  recommend  that  an  examination  be  made  into  the  subjects  of 
citizenship,  expatriation,  and  protection  of  Americans  abroad,  with 
a  view  to  appropriate  legislation. 

The  power  of  the  Government  to  protect  the  integrity  of  the 
elections  of  its  own  officials  is  inherent  and  has  been  recognized 


27 


and  affirmed  b}'  repeated  declarations  of  the  Supreme  Court.  There 
is  no  eneni}'  of  free  government  more  dangerous  and  none  so  insid- 
ious as  the  corruption  of  the  electorate.    No  one  defends  or  excuses 
corruption,  and  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  none 

Protection  of  would  oppose  vigorous  measures  to  eradicate  it. 

elections. 

I  recommend  the  enactment  of  a  law  directed 
against  bribery  and  corruption  in  Federal  elections.  The  details 
of  such  a  law  may  be  safely  left  to  the  wise  discretion  of  the  Con- 
gress, but  it  should  go  as  far  as  under  the  Constitution  it  is  pos- 
sible to  go,  and  should  include  severe  penalties  against  him  who 
gives  or  receives  a  bribe  intended  to  influence  his  act  or  opinion  as 
an  elector;  and  provisions  for  the  publication  not  only  of  the 
expenditures  for  nominations  and  elections  of  all  candidates  but 
also  of  all  contributions  received  and  expenditures  made  by  political 
committees. 

No  subject  is  better  worthy  the  attention  of  the  Congress  than 

that  portion  of  the  report  of  the  Attorney-General  dealing  with  the 

long  delays  and  the  great  obstruction  to  justice  experienced  in  the 

cases  of  Beavers,  Green  and  Gaynor,  and  Benson. 

Delays  in  criminal  Were  these  isolated  and  special  cases,  I  should  not 
prosecutions.  .  /  , 

call  your  attention  to  them;  but  the  dimculties 

encountered  as  regards  these  men  who  have  been  indicted  for  crim- 
inal practices  are  not  exceptional;  they  are  precisely  similar  in  kind 
to  what  occurs  again  and  again  in  the  case  of  criminals  who  have 
sufficient  means  to  enable  them  to  take  advantage  of  a  system  of 
procedure  which  has  grown  up  in  the  Federal  courts  and  which 
amounts  in  effect  to  making  the  law  easy  of  enforcement  against  the 
man  who  has  no  money,*  and  difficult  of  enforcement,  even  to  the 
point  of  sometimes  securing  immunit}',  as  regards  the  man  who 
has  money.  In  criminal  cases  the  writ  of  the  United  States 
should  run  throughout  its  borders.  The  wheels  of  justice  should 
not  be  clogged,  as  they  have  been  clogged  in  the  cases  above 
mentioned,  where  it  has  proved  absolutely  impossible  to  bring 
the  accused  to  the  place  appointed  by  the  Constitution  for  his 
trial.  Of  recent  years  there  has  been  grave  and  increasing 
complaint  of  the  difficulty  of  bringing  to  justice  those  criminals 
whose  criminalit}',  instead  of  being  against  one  person  in  the 
Republic,  is  against  all  persons  in  the  Republic,  because  it  is 
against  the  Republic  itself.  Under  any  circumstance  and  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  case  it  is  often  exceedingly  difficult  to  secure 
proper  punishment  of  those  who  have  been  guilty  of  wrongdoing 
against  the  Government.    By  the  time  the  offender  can  be  brought 


28 


into  court  the  popular  wrath  a^^ainst  liiui  has  jrcnerally  subsided; 
and  there  is  in  most  instances  very  sli<^"ht  danger  indeed  of  any 
prejudice  existing  in  the  minds  of  the  jury  a^^ainst  him.  At  pres- 
ent the  interests  of  the  innocent  man  are  amply  safe<^uarded;  but 
the  interests  of  the  Government,  that  is,  the  interests  of  honest 
administration,  that  is  the  interests  of  the  people,  are  not  reco^^^- 
nized  as  they  should  be.  No  subject  better  warrants  the  attention 
of  the  Cono^ress.  Indeed,  no  subject  better  warrants  the  attention 
of  the  bench  and  the  bar  throui^hout  the  United  States. 

Alaska,  like  all  our  Territorial  acquisitions,  has  proved  resourceful 
beyond  the  expectations  of  those  wdio  made  the  purchase.    It  has 
become  the  home  of  many  hardy,  industrious,  and  thrifty  American 
citizens.    Towns  of  a  permanent  character  have 
Alaska.  been  built.    The  extent  of  its  wealth  in  minerals, 

timber,  fisheries,  and  ac^riculture,  while  great,  is 
probabh'  not  comprehended  yet  in  any  just  measure  by  our  people. 
We  do  know,  how^ever,  that  from  a  very  small  beginning  its  products 
have  grown  until  they  are  a  steady  and  material  contribution  to 
the  wealth  of  the  Nation.  Owing  to  the  immensity  of  Alaska  and 
its  location  in  the  far  north,  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  provide  many 
things  essential  to  its  grow^th  and  to  the  happiness  and  comfort  of 
its  people  by  private  enterprise  alone.  It  should,  therefore,  receive 
reasonable  aid  from  the -Government.  The  Government  has  already 
done  excellent  work  for  Alaska  in  laying  cables  and  building 
telegraph  lines.  This  w^ork  has  been  done  in  the  most  economical 
and  efficient  w^ay  by  the  Signal  Corps  of  the  Army. 

In  some  respects  it  has  outgrow^n  its  present  laws,  while  in  others 
those  laws  have  been  found  to  be  inadequate.  In  order  to  obtain 
information  upon  which  I  could  rely  I  caused  an  official  of  the 
Department  of  Justice,  in  whose  judgment  I  have  confidence,  to 
visit  Alaska  during  the  past  summer  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
how  government  is  administered  there  and  what  legislation  is  actually 
needed  at  present.  A  statement  of  the  conditions  found  to  exist, 
together  with  some  recommendations  and  the  reasons  therefor,  in 
which  I  strongly  concur,  will  be  found  in  the  annual  report  of  the 
Attorney-General.  In  some  instances  I  feel  that  the  legislation 
suggested  is  so  imperatively  needed  that  I  am  moved  briefly  to 
emphasize  the  Attorney-General's  proposals. 

Under  the  Code  of  Alaska  as  it  now  stands  many  purely  adminis- 
trative powders  and  duties,  including  by  far  the  most  important, 
devolve  upon  the  district  judges  or  upon  the  clerks  of  the  district 
court  acting  under  the  direction  of  the  judges,  wdiile  the  governor, 


29 


upon  whom  these  powers  and  duties  should  log-ically  fall,  has  noth- 
ing specific  to  do  except  to  make  annual  reports,  issue  Thanksgiving 
Day  proclamations,  and  appoint  Indian  policemen  and  notaries 
public.  I  believe  it  essential  to  good  government  in  Alaska,  and 
therefore  recommend,  that  the  Congress  divest  the  district  judges 
and  the  clerks  of  their  courts  of  the  administrative  or  executive 
functions  that  they  now  exercise  and  cast  them  upon  the  governor. 
This  would  not  be  an  innovation;  it  would  simply  conform  the 
government  of  Alaska  to  fundamental  principles,  making  the  gov- 
ernorship a  real  instead  of  a  mereh'  nominal  office,  and  leaving  the 
judges  free  to  give  their  entire  attention  to  their  judicial  duties  and 
at  the  same  time  removing  them  from  a  great  deal  of  the  strife  that 
now  embarrasses  the  judicial  office  in  Alaska. 

I  also  recommend  that  the  salaries  of  the  district  judges  and  dis- 
trict attorneys  in  Alaska  be  increased  so  as  to  make  them  equal  to 
those  received  by  corresponding  officers  in  the  United  States  after 
deducting  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  living;  that  the  district 
attorneys  should  be  prohibited  from  engaging  in  private  practice; 
that  United  States  commissioners  be  appointed  by  the  governor  of 
the  Territor}-  instead  of  by  the  district  judges,  and  that  a  fixed  salary 
be  provided  for  them  to  take  the  place  of  the  discredited  "fee  sys- 
tem," which  should  be  abolished  in  all  offices;  that  a  mounted  con- 
stabulary be  created  to  police  the  territory  outside  the  limits  of 
incorporated  towns — a  vast  section  now  w^holh'  without  police  pro- 
tection; and  that  some  provision  be  made  to  at  least  lessen  the 
oppressive  delays  and  costs  that  now  attend  the  prosecution  of 
appeals  from  the  district  court  of  Alaska.  There  should  be  a  divi- 
sion of  the  existing  judicial  districts,  and  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  judges. 

Alaska  should  have  a  Delegate  in  the  Congress.  Where  possible, 
the  Congress  should  aid  in  the  construction  of  needed  w^agon  roads. 
Additional  light-houses  should  be  provided.  In  my  judgment,  it  is 
especially  important  to  aid  in  such  manner  as  seems  just  and  feasible 
in  the  construction  of  a  trunk  line  of  railway  to  connect  the  Gulf 
of  Alaska  with  the  Yukon  River  through  xAmerican  territor\'.  This 
w^ould  be  most  beneficial  to  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the 
Territory,  and  to  the  comfort  and  w^elfare  of  its  people. 

Salmon  hatcheries  should  be  established  in  many  different  streams, 
so  as  to  secure  the  preser\'ation  of  this  valuable  food  fish.  Salmon 
fisheries  and  canneries  should  be  prohibited  on  certain  of  the  rivers 
where  the  mass  of  those  Indians  dwell  who  live  almost  exclusively 
on  fish. 


30 


Tlic  Alaskan  natives  arc  kindly,  inlclli^cnt,  anxions  to  learn,  and 
\villin!^  to  work.  Those  who  ha\c  conic  nndcr  the  inOucncc  of 
cix  ilizalion,  even  for  a  limited  period,  have  i)roved  their  ca])al)ility 
of  beconiino-  self-snpportino;,  self-respectino;  citizens,  and  ask  onlv 
for  the  jnst  enforcement  of  law  and  intellio;-ent  instrnction  and 
supervision.  Others,  living-  in  more  remote  reg-ions,  primitive^ 
sinlple  hunters  and  fisher  folk,  who  know  only  the  life  of  the  woods 
and  the  waters,  are  daily  bein^^  confronted  with  twcntieth-centurv 
ci\  ilization  with  all  of  its  complexities.  Their  conntrv  is  beino^ 
overrun  by  strangers,  the  game  slaughtered  and  driven  awa\-,  the 
streams  depleted  of  fish,  and  hitherto  unknown  and  fatal  diseases 
brought  to  them,  all  of  which  combine  to  produce  a  state  of  abject 
poverty  and  want  which  must  result  in  their  extinction.  Action  in 
their  interest  is  demanded  by  every  consideration  of  justice  and 
humanity. 

The  needs  of  these  people  are: 

The  abolition  of  the  present  fee  system,  wdiereb)'  the  native  is 
degraded,  imposed  upon,  and  taught  the  injustice  of  law. 

The  establishment  of  hospitals  at  central  points,  so  that  contagious 
diseases  that  are  brousfht  to  them  continuallv  bv  incoming^  whites 
may  be  localized  and  not  allowed  to  become  epidemic,  to  spread 
death  and  destitution  over  great  areas. 

The  development  of 'the  educational  system  in  the  form  of  prac- 
tical training  in  such  industries  as  will  assure  the  Indians  self-stip- 
port  under  the  changed  conditions  in  wdiich  they  will  have  to  live. 

The  duties  of  the  office  of  the  governor  should  be  extended  to 
include  the  supervision  of  Indian  affairs,  wnth  necessary  assistants 
in  different  districts.  He  should  be  provided  with  the  means  and 
the  power  to  protect  and  advise  the  native  people,  to  furnish  med- 
ical treatment  in  time  of  epidemics,  and  to  extend  material  relief  in 
periods  of  famifie  and  extreme  destitution. 

The  Alaskan  natives  should  be  given  the  right  to  acquire,  hold, 

and  dispose  of  property  upon  the  same  conditions 

Hawaii  and  criven  other  inhabitants;  and  the  privileg-e  of 

Porto  Rico.  .  ."^      ,  .     .      .  ,  ,       .       '         ,       ^  111 

citizenship  should  be  given  to  stich  as  may  be  able 

to  meet  certain  definite  requirements.  In  Hawaii  Congress  should 
give  the  governor  power  to  remove  all  the  officials  appointed  under 
him.  The  harbor  of  Honolulu  should  be  dredged.  The  ]\Iarine- 
Hospital  Service  shotild  be  empowered  to  sttidy  lepros\-  in  the 
islands.  I  ask  special  consideration  for  the  report  and  recommen- 
dations of  the  governor  of  Porto  Rico. 

In  treating  of  our  foreign  policy  and  of  the  attitude  that  this 


31 

great  Nation  should  assume  in  the  world  at  large,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  consider  the  Arni\-  and  the  Nav}-,  and  the  Congress, 

through  which  the  thought  of  the  Nation  finds  its 
Foreign  policy.  expression,  should  keep  ever  vividly  in  mind  the 

fundamental  fact  that  it  is  impossible  to  treat 
our  foreign  policy,  whether  this  policy  takes  shape  in  the  effort  to 
secure  justice  for  others  or  justice  for  ourselves,  save  as  condi- 
tioned upon  the  attitude  we  are  willing  to  take  toward  our  Army, 
and  especially  toward  our  Navy.  It  is  not  merely  unwise,  it  is 
contemptible,  for  a  nation,  as  for  an  individual,  to  use  high-sounding 
language  to  proclaim  its  purposes,  or  to  take  positions  which  are 
ridiculous  if  unsupported  by  potential  force,  and  then  to  refuse  to 
provide  this  force.  If  there  is  no  intention  of  providing  and  of  keep- 
ing the  force  necessary  to  back  up  a  strong  attitude,  then  it  is  far 
better  not  to  assume  such  an  attitude. 

The  steady  aim  of  this  Nation,  as  of  all  enlightened  nations,  should 
be  to  strive  to  bring  ever  nearer  the  day  when  there  shall  prevail 
throughout  the  world  the  peace  of  justice.  There  are  kinds  of  peace 
which  are  highh'  undesirable,  which  are  in  the  long  run  as  destruc- 
tive as  any  war.  T}'rants  and  oppressors  have  man}'  times  made  a 
wilderness  and  called  it  peace.  ]\Iany  times  peoples  who  were 
slothful  or  timid  or  shortsighted,  who  had  been  enervated  by  ease  or 
by  luxury,  or  misled  by  false  teachings,  have  shrunk  in  unmanly 
fashion  from  doing  duty  that  was  stern  and  that  needed  self-sacrifice, 
and  have  sought  to  hide  from  their  own  minds  their  shortcomings, 
their  ignoble  motives,  by  calling  them  love  of  peace.  The  peace  of 
tyrannous  terror,  the  peace  of  craven  weakness,  the  peace  of  injustice, 
all  these  should  be  shunned  as  we  shun  unrighteous  war.  The  goal 
to  set  before  us  as  a  nation,  the  goal  which  should  be  set  before  all 
mankind,  is  the  attainment  of  the  peace  of  justice,  of  the  peace  which 
comes  when  each  nation  is  not  mereU'  safe-guarded  in  its  own  rights, 
but  scrupulously  recognizes  and  performs  its  duty  toward  others. 
Generally  peace  tells  for  righteousness;  but  if  there  is  conflict  between 
the  two,  then  our  fealt\'  is  due  first  to  the  cause  of  righteousness. 
Unrighteous  wars  are  common,  and  unrighteous  peace  is  rare;  but 
both  should  be  shunned.  The  right  of  freedom  and  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  exercise  of  that  right  can  not  be  di\-orced.  One  of 
our  great  poets  has  well  and  finely  said  that  freedom  is  not  a  gift 
that  tarries  long  in  the  hands  of  cowards.  Neither  does  it  tarry 
long  in  the  hands  of  those  too  slothful,  too  dishonest,  or  too  unin- 
telligent to  exercise  it.  The  eternal  vigilance  which  is  the  price  of 
liberty  must  be  exercised,  sometimes  to  guard  against  outside  foes; 


32 


altlu)U,!^h  of  course  far  more  often  to  j^uard  against  onr  own  selfish 
or  thou^^htless  shortcoinin^^s. 

If  these  self-evident  truths  are  kept  before  us,  and  only  if  they  are 
so  kept  before  us,  we  shall  ha\  e  a  clear  idea  of  what  our  forei<i^n 
policy  in  its  lar^^er  as])ects  should  be.  It  is  our  (lut\-  to  remember 
that  a  nation  has  no  more  ri^ht  to  do  injustice  to  another  nation, 
strong-  or  weak,  than  an  individual  has  to  do  injustice  to  another 
individual;  that  the  same  moral  law  applies  in  one  case  as  in  the 
other.  But  we  must  also  remember  that  it  is  as  much  the  duty  of 
the  Nation  to  ouard  its  own  ritrhts  and  its  own  interests  as  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  individual  so  to  do.  Within  the  Nation  the  individual 
has  now  delecrated  this  rio-ht  to  the  State,  that  is,  to  the  represent- 
ative of  all  the  individuals,  and  it  is  a  maxim  of  the  law^  that  for 
every  wrong  there  is  a  remedy.  But  in  international  law  we  have  not 
advanced  by  any  means  as  far  as  we  have  advanced  in  municipal  \sl\\\ 
There  is  as  }'et  no  judicial  wa\-  of  enforcing  a  right  in  international 
law.  \Mien  one  nation  w^rongs  another  or  wrongs  many  others,  there 
is  no  tribunal  before  which  the  wrongdoer  can  be  brought.  Either 
it  is  necessary  supinely  to  acquiesce  in  the  wTong,  and  thus  put  a 
premium  upon  brutality  and  aggression,  or  else  it  is  necessary  for 
the  aggrieved  nation  valiantly  to  stand  up  for  its  rights.  Until 
some  method  is  devised  by  wdiicli  there  shall  be  a  degree  of  inter- 
national control  over  offending  nations,  it  would  be  a  wicked  thing 
for  the  most  ci\'ilized  powers,  for  those  with  most  sense  of  inter- 
national obligations  and  with  keenest  and  most  generous  apprecia- 
tion of  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  to  disarm.  If  the 
great  civilized  nations  of  the  present  day  should  completely  disarm, 
the  result  w^ould  mean  an  immediate  recrudescence  of  barbarism  in 
one  form  or  another.  Under  any  circumstances  a  sufhcient  armament 
w^ould  have  to  be  kept  up  to  serve  the  purposes  of  international 
police;  and  until  international  cohesion  and  the  sense  of  international 
duties  and  rights  are  far  more  advanced  than  at  present,  a  nation 
desirous  both  of  sectiring  respect  for  itself  and  of  doing  good  to 
others  must  have  a  force  adequate  for  the  work  wdiich  it  feels  is 
allotted  to  it  as  its  part  of  the  general  w^orld  duty.  Therefore  it 
follow^s  that  a  self-respecting,  just,  and  far-seeing  nation  should  on 
the  one  hand  endeavor  by  every  means  to  aid  in  the  development 
of  the  various  movements  which  tend  to  provide  substitutes  for 
war,  which  tend  to  render  nations  in  their  actions  tow^ard  one 
another,  and  indeed  toward  their  own  peoples,  more  responsive 
to  the  general  sentiment  of  humane  and  civilized  mankind;  and 
on  the  other  hand  that  it  should  keep  prepared,  while  scrupu- 


33 


lously  avoiding  wrongdoing  itself,  to  repel  any  wrong,  and  in 
exceptional  cases  to  take  action  which  in  a  more  advanced 
stage  of  international  relations  would  come  under  the  head  of  the 
exercise  of  the  international  police.  A  great  free  people  owes  it  to 
itself  and  to  all  mankind  not  to  sink  into  helplessness  before  the 
powers  of  evil. 

We  are  in  every  way  endeavoring  to  help  on,  with  cordial  good 
will,  every  movement  which  will  tend  to  bring  lis  into  more  friendly 
relations  with  the  rest  of  mankind.    In  pnrsnance  of  this  policy  I 

shall  shortly  lay  before  the  Senate  treaties  of  arbi- 
Arbitration  treaties,     tration  with  all  powers  which  are  willing  to  enter 

into  these  treaties  with  ns.  It  is  not  possible  at 
this  period  of  the  world's  development  to  agree  to  arbitrate  all 
matters,  but  there  are  many  matters  of  possible  difference  between 
us  and  other  nations  which  can  be  thus  arbitrated.  Furthermore, 
at  the  request  of  the  Interparliamentary  Union,  an  eminent  body 

composed  of  practical  statesmen  from  all  countries, 

Second  Hague  j  ^^^.^  asked  the  Powers  to  join  with  this  Govern- 
conrerence. 

ment  in  a  second  Hague  conference,  at  which  it  is 
hoped  that  the  work  alread}'  so  happily  begun  at  The  Hague  may 
be  carried  some  steps  further  toward  completion.  This  carries  out 
the  desire  expressed  by  the  first  Hague  conference  itself. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  United  States  feels  any  land  hunger  or 
entertains  any  projects  as  regards  the  other  nations  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere  save  such  as  are  for  their  welfare.    All  that  this 

country  desires  is  to  see  the  neighboring  countries 

Policy  toward  other  stable,  orderly,  and  prosperous.  Any  country 
nations  or  Western        -,  i  i     ^  ^i  i  n 

Hemisphere  whose  people  conduct  themselves  well  can  count 

upon  our  hearty  friendship.  If  a  nation  shows 
that  it  knows  how  to  act  with  reasonable  efficiency  and  decency  in 
social  and  political  matters,  if  it  keeps  order  and  pays  its  obligations, 
it  need  fear  no  interference  from  the  United  States.  Chronic  wrong- 
doing, or  an  impotence  which  results  in  a  general  loosening  of  the 
ties  of  civilized  society,  may  in  America,  as  elsewhere,  ultimately 
require  intervention  by  some  civilized  nation,  and  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere  the  adherence  of  the  United  States  to  the  Alonroe  Doc- 
trine may  force  the  United  States,  however  reluctantly,  in  flagrant 
cases  of  such  wrongdoing  or  impotence,  to  the  exercise  of  an  inter- 
national police  power.  If  every  country  washed  by  the  Caribbean 
Sea  would  show  the  progress  in  stable  and  just  civilization  which 
with  the  aid  of  the  Piatt  amendment  Cuba  has  shown  since  our 
troops  left  the  island,  and  which  so  many  of  the  republics  in  both 


34 


AiiR-ricas  are  constantly  and  l)rilliantly  showing-,  all  qncstion  of 
interference  by  this  Nation  with  their  affairs  wonld  be  at  an  end. 
Onr  interests  and  those  of  onr  sonthern  neio^hbors  are  in  reality 
identical.  They  have  i^reat  natnral  riches,  and  if  within  their 
borders  the  reign  of  law  and  jnstice  obtains,  prosperity  is  snre  to 
come  to  them.  While  they  thns  obey  the  primary  laws  of  civilized 
society  the>-  ma)'  rest  assnred  that  they  will  be  treated  by  ns  in  a 
spirit  of  cordial  and  helpfnl  sympathy.  We  would  interfere  with 
them  only  in  the  last  resort,  and  then  onh'  if  it  became  evident  that 
their  inability  or  nnwillino^ness  to  do  justice  at  home  and  abroad 
had  violated  the  rio^hts  of  the  United  States  or  had  invited  foreio^n 
aggression  to  the  detriment  of  the  entire  body  of  American  nations. 
It  is  a  mere  truism  to  say  that  every  nation,  whether  in  America  or 
any  where  else,  wdiich  desires  to  maintain  its  freedom,  its  indepen- 
dence, must  ultimately  realize  that  the  right  of  such  independence 
can  not  be  separated  from  the  responsibility  of  making  good  use  of  it. 

In  asserting  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  in  taking  such  steps  as  w^e  have 
taken  in  regard  to  Cuba,  Venezuela,  and  Panama,  and  in  endeavoring 
to  circumscribe  the  theater  of  war  in  the  Far  East,  and  to  secure  the 
open  door  in  China,  we  have  acted  in  our  owai  interest  as  well  as  in 
the  interest  of  humanity  at  large.  There  are,  how^ever,  cases  in 
wdiich,  wdiile  our  owai  interests  are  not  greatly  involved,  strong 
appeal  is  made  to  our  sympathies.  Ordinarily  it  is"very  much  wiser 
and  more  useful  for  us  to  concern  ourselves  with  striving  for  our 
own  moral  and  material  betterment  here  at  home  than  to  concern 
ourselves  with  tr}'ing  to  better  the  condition  of  things  in  other 
nations.  We  have  plenty  of  sins  of  our  own  to  w^ar  against,  and 
imder  ordinary  circumstances  w^e  can  do  more  for  the  general  uplift- 
ing of  humanit}-  by  striving  with  heart  and  soul  to  put  a  stop  to 
civic  corruption,  to  brutal  lawlessness  and  violent  race  prejudices 
here  at  home  than  by  passing  resolutions  about  wrongdoing  else- 
where. Nevertheless  there  are  occasional  crimes  committed  on  so 
vast  a  scale  and  of  such  peculiar  horror  as  to  make  us  doubt  wdiether 
it  is  not  our  manifest  duty  to  endeavor  at  least  to  show  our  disap- 
proval of  the  deed  and  our  sympathy  with  those  who  have  suf- 
fered by  it.  The  cases  must  be  extreme  in  which  such  a  course  is 
justifiable.  There  must  be  no  effort  made  to  remove  the  mote  from 
our  brother's  eye  if  we  refuse  to  remove  the  beam  from  our  own. 
But  in  extreme  cases  action  may  be  justifiable  and  proper.  What 
form  the  action  shall  take  must  depend  upon  the  circumstances 
of  the  case;  that  is,  upon  the  degree  of  the  atrocity  and  upon  our 
power  to  remedy  it.    The  cases  in  wdiich  we  could  interfere  by 


35 


force  of  arms  as  we  interfered  to  put  a  stop  to  intolerable  condi- 
tions in  Cuba  are  necessaril}-  very  few.  Yet  it  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  a  people  like  ours,  which  in  spite  of  certain  very 
obvious  shortcomings,  nevertheless  as  a  whole  shows  by  its  con- 
sistent practice  its  belief  in  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  and  of  orderly  freedom,  a  people  among  whom  even  the 
worst  crime,  like  the  crime  of  lynching,  is  never  more  than  sporadic, 
so  that  individuals  and  not  classes  are  molested  in  their  funda- 
mental rights — it  is  inevitable  that  such  a  nation  should  desire 
eagerly  to  give  expression  to  its  horror  on  an  occasion  like  that  of 
the  massacre  of  the  Jews  in  Kishenef,  or  when  it  w^itnesses  such 
systematic  and  long-extended  cruelty  and  oppression  as  the  cruelty 
and  oppression  of  which  the  iVrmenians  have  been  the  victims,  and 
which  have  won  for  them  the  indignant  pity  of  the  civilized  world. 

Even  where  it  is  not  possible  to  secure  in  other  nations  the 
observance  of  the  principles  which  we  accept  as  axiomatic,  it  is 
necessary  for  us  firmly  to  insist  upon  the  rights  of  our  own  citizens 
without  regard  to  their  creed  or  race;  without 

Rights  of  American  j-^g-ard  to  whether  the}^  were  born  here  or  born 
citizens  abroad.  ,        ^      ^    ,  ^  , .  „  , 

abroad.    It  has  proved  very  dimcult  to  secure 

from  Russia  the  right  for  our  Jewish  fellow-citizens  to  receive  pass- 
ports and  travel  through  Russian  territory.  Such  conduct  is  not 
only  unjust  and  irritating  toward  us,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  its  wis- 
dom from  Russia's  standpoint.  No  conceivable  good  is  accomplished 
by  it.  If  an  American  Jew  or  an  American  Christian  misbehaves 
himself  in  Russia  he  can  at  once  be  driven  out;  but  the  ordinary 
American  Jew,  like  the  ordinary  American  Christian,  would  behave 
just  about  as  he  behaves  here,  that  is,  behave  as  any  good  citizen  ought 
to  behave ;  and  where  this  is  the  case  it  is  a  wrong  against  which 
we  are  entitled  to  protest  to  refuse  him  his  passport  without  regard 
to  his  conduct  and  character,  merely  on  racial  and  religious  grounds. 
In  Turkey  our  difficulties  arise  less  from  the  way  in  which  our 
citizens  are  sometimes  treated  than  from  the  indignation  inevitably 
excited  in  seeing  such  fearful  misrule  as  has  been  witnessed  both  in 
Armenia  and  Macedonia. 

The  strong  arm  of  the  Government  in  enforcing  respect  for  its 

just  rights  in  international  matters  is  the  Navy  of 
The  Navy.  the  United  States.    I  most  earnesth'  recommend 

that  there  be  no  halt  in  the  work  of  upbuilding 
the  American  Navy.  There  is  no  more  patriotic  duty  before  us 
as  a  people  than  to  keep  the  Navy  adequate  to  the  needs  of  this 
country's  position.    We  have  undertaken  to  build  the  Isthmian 


36 


Canal.  W'c  haw  undertaken  to  secure  for  ourselves  our  just  share 
in  the  trade  of  the  Orient.  We  have  undertaken  to  protect  our 
citizens  from  improper  treatment  in  foreio;n  lands.  We  continue 
steadily  to  insist  on  the  application  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  to 
the  Western  Hemisphere.  Unless  our  attitude  in  these  and  all 
similar  matters  is  to  be  a  mere  boastful  sham  we  can  not  afford  to 
abandon  our  naval  programme.  Our  voice  is  now  potent  for  peace, 
and  is  so  potent  because  we  are  not  afraid  of  war.  But  our  protes- 
tations upon  behalf  of  peace  would  neither  receive  nor  deserve  the 
slightest  attention  if  we  were  impotent  to  make  them  good. 

The  war  which  now  unfortunately  rages  in  the  far  East  has 
emphasized  in  striking  fashion  the  new  possibilities  of  naval  war- 
fare. The  lessons  taught  are  both  strategic  and  tactical,  and  are 
political  as  well  as  military.  The  experiences  of  the  war  have 
shown  in  conclusive  fashion  that  while  sea-going  and  sea-keeping 
torpedo  destroyers  are  indispensable,  and  fast  lightly  armed  and 
armored  cruisers  very  useful,  yet  that  the  main  reliance,  the  main 
standb}',  in  any  navy  worthy  the  name  must  be  the  great  battle  ships, 
heavily  armored  and  heavily  gunned.  Not  a  Russian  or  Japanese 
battle  ship  has  been  sunk  by  a  torpedo  boat,  or  by  gunfire,  while 
among  the  less  protected  ships,  cruiser  after  cruiser  has  been  destro}'ed 
whenever  the  hostile  squadrons  have  gotten  within  range  of  one 
another's  weapons.  Tl>ere  will  ahvays  be  a  large  field  of  usefulness 
for  cruisers,  especially  of  the  more  formidable  type.  We  need  to 
increase  the  number  of  torpedo-boat  destroyers,  paying  less  heed  to 
their  having  a  knot  or  two  extra  speed  than  to  their  capacit}^  to  keep 
the  seas  for  wrecks,  and,  if  necessary,  for  months  at  a  time.  It  is  wise 
to  build  submarine  torpedo  boats,  as  under  certain  circumstances  they 
might  be  very  useful.  But  most  of  all  we  need  to  continue  building 
our  fleet  of  battle  ships,  or  ships  so  pow^erfully  armed  that  the\-  can 
inflict  the  maximum  of  damage  upon  our  opponents,  and  so  well 
protected  that  the\'  can  suffer  a  severe  hammering  in  return  without 
fatal  impairment  of  their  ability  to  fight  and  maneuver.  Of  course 
ample  means  must  be  provided  for  enabling  the  personnel  of  the 
Navy  to  be  brought  to  the  highest  point  of  efficiency.  Our  great 
fighting  ships  and  torpedo  boats  must  be  ceaselessly  trained  and 
maneuvered  in  squadrons.  The  officers  and  men  can  only  learn 
their  trade  thoroughly  by  ceaseless  practice  on  the  high  seas.  In 
the  event  of  war  it  would  be  far  better  to  have  no  ships  at  all  than 
to  have  ships  of  a  poor  and  ineffective  t}'pe,  or  ships  which,  however 
good,  were  yet  manned  by  untrained  and  unskillful  crews.  The 
best  officers  and  men  in  a  poor  ship  could  do  nothing  against  fairly 


37 


good  opponents;  and  on  the  other  hand  a  modern  war  ship  is  nseless 
unless  the  officers  and  men  aboard  her  have  become  adepts  in  their 
duties.  The  marksmanship  in  our  Navy  has  improved  in  an  extraor- 
dinary degree  during  the  last  three  years,  and  on  the  whole  the  types 
of  our  battle  ships  are  improving;  but  much  remains  to  be  done. 
Sooner  or  later  we  shall  have  to  provide  for  some  method  by  which 
there  will  be  promotions  for  merit  as  well  as  for  seniority,  or  eke 
retirement  of  all  those  who  after  a  certain  age  have  not  advanced 
beyond  a  certain  grade;  while  no  effort  must  be  spared  to  make  the 
service  attractive  to  the  enlisted  men  in  order  that  they  may  be  kept 
as  long  as  possible  in  it.  Reservation  public  schools  should  be 
provided  wherever  there  are  navy-yards. 

Within  the  last  three  years  the  United  States  has  set  an  example  in 
disarmament  where  disarmament  was  proper.  By  law  our  Army  is 
fixed  at  a  maximum  of  one  hundred  thousand  and  a  minimum  of 

sixty  thousand  men.  When  there  w^as  insurrec- 
The  Army.  tion  in  the  Philippines  we  kept  the  Army  at  the 

maximum.  Peace  came  in  the  Philippines,  and 
now  our  Army  has  been  reduced  to  the  minimum  at  which  it  is 
possible  to  keep  it  with  due  regard  to  its  efficiency.  The  guns 
now  mounted  require  twenty-eight  thousand  men,  if  the  coast  for- 
tifications are  to  be  adequately  manned.  Relatively  to  the  Nation, 
it  is  not  now  so  large  as  the  police  force  of  New  York  or  Chicago 
relatively  to  the  population  of  either  city.  We  need  more  officers; 
there  are  not  enough  to  perform  the  regular  army  work.  It  is  very 
important  that  the  officers  of  the  Army  should  be  accustomed  to 
handle  their  men  in  masses,  as  it  is  also  important  that  the  National 
Guard  of  the  several  States  should  be  accustomed  to  actual  field 
maneuvering,  especially  in  connection  with  the  regulars.  For  this 
reason  we  are  to  be  congratulated  upon  the  success  of  the  field 
maneuvers  at  Manassas  last  fall,  maneuvers  in  which  a  larger  num- 
ber of  Regulars  and  National  Guard  took  part  than  was  ever  before 
assembled  together  in  time  of  peace.  No  other  civilized  nation  has, 
relatively  to  its  population,  such  a  diminutive  Army  as  ours;  and 
while  the  Army  is  so  small  we  are  not  to  be  excused  if  we  fail  to 
keep  it  at  a  very  high  grade  of  proficiency.  It  must  be  incessantly 
practiced;  the  standard  for  the  enlisted  men  should  be  kept  very 
high,  while  at  the  same  time  the  service  should  be  made  as  attractive 
as  possible;  and  the  standard  for  the  officers  should  be  kept  even 
higher — which,  as  regards  the  upper  ranks,  can  best  be  done  b}'  intro- 
ducing some  system  of  selection  and  rejection  into  the  promotions. 
We  should  be  able,  in  the  event  of  some  sudden  emergency,  to  put 


38 


into  the  field  one  first-class  army  corps,  which  should  be,  as  a  whole, 
at  least  the  equal  of  any  body  of  troops  of  like  number  belon^^ino^ 
to  any  other  nation. 

Great  progress  has  been  made  in  protecting-  our  coasts  by  adequate 
fortifications  with  sufficient  <^\\us.  We  should,  however,  pay  much 
more  heed  than  at  present  to  the  development  of  an  extensive  system 
of  floating  mines  for  use  in  all  our  more  important  harbors.  These 
mines  have  been  proved  to  be  a  most  formidable  safeguard  against 
hostile  fleets. 

I  earnestly  call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  to  the  need  of  amend- 
ing the  existing  law  relating  to  the  award  of  Congressional  medals 
of  honor  in  the  Navy  so  as  to  provide  that  they  may  be  awarded  to 
commissioned  officers  and  w^arrant  officers  as  well 

Medals  of  honor  enlisted  men.    These  justly  prized  medals 

in  the  Navy.  .         ...  \^  ^ 

are  given  m  the  Army  alike  to  the  officers  and 

the  enlisted  men,  and  it  is  most  unjust  that  the  commissioned  offi- 
cers and  warrant  officers  of  the  Navy  should  not  in  this  respect 
have  the  same  rights  as  their  brethren  in  the  Ami}'  and  as  the 
enlisted  men  of  the  Navy. 

In  the  Philippine  Islands  there  has  been  during  the  past  year 
a  continuation  of  the  steady  progress  which  has  obtained  ever  since 
our  troops  definiteh'  got  the  upper  hand  of  the  insurgents.  The 
Philippine  people,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  the  many  tribes, 

and  even  races,  sundered  from  one  another  more 
The  Philippines.       or  less  sharply,  who  go  to  make  up  the  people 

of  the  Philippine  Islands,  contain  many  elements 
of  good,  and  some  elements  w^hich  we  have  a  right  to  hope  stand 
for  progress.  At  present  they  are  utterly  incapable  of  existing  in 
independence  at  all  or  of  building  up  a  civilization  of  their  own. 
I  firmly  believe  that  we  can  help  them  to  rise  higher  and  higher 
in  the  scale  of  civilization  and  of  capacity  for  self-government,  and 
I  most  earnCvStly  hope  that  in  the  end  they  will  be  able  to  stand, 
if  not  entirely  alone,  yet  in  some  such  relation  to  the  United 
States  as  Cuba  now  stands.  This  end  is  not  yet  in  sight,  and  it 
may  be  indefinitely  postponed  if  our  people  are  foolish  enough  to 
turn  the  attention  of  the  Filipinos  away  from  the  problems  of  achiev- 
ing moral  and  material  prosperity,  of  working  for  a  stable,  orderly, 
and  just  government,  and  tow^ard  foolish  and  dangerous  intrigues  for 
a  complete  independence  for  wdiich  they  are  as  yet  totally  unfit. 

On  the  other  hand  our  people  must  keep  steadily  before  their 
minds  the  fact  that  the  justification  for  our  stay  in  the  Philippines 
must  ultimately  rest  chiefly  upon  the  good  we  are  able  to  do  in  the 


39 


islands.  I  do  not  overlook  the  fact  that  in  the  development  of  onr 
interests  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  along  its  coasts,  the  Philippines 
have  played  and  will  play  an  important  part,  and  that  onr  interests 
have  been  served  in  more  than  one  way  by  the  possession  of  the 
islands.  But  our  chief  reason  for  continuing  to  hold  them  must  be 
that  we  ought  in  good  faith  to  try  to  do  our  share  of  the  world's 
work,  and  this  particular  piece  of  work  has  been  imposed  upon  us 
by  the  results  of  the  war  with  Spain.  The  problem  presented  to 
us  in  the  Philippine  Islands  is  akin  to,  but  not  exactly  like,  the 
problems  presented  to  the  other  great  civilized  powers  which  have 
possessions  in  the  Orient.  There  are  points  of  resemblance  in  our 
work  to  the  work  which  is  being  done  by  the  British  in  India  and 
Egypt,  by  the  French  in  Algiers,  by  the  Dutch  in  Java,  by  the  Rus- 
sians in  Turkestan,  by  the  Japanese  in  Formosa;  but  more  distinctly 
than  any  of  these  powers  we  are  endeavoring  to  develop  the  natives 
themselves  so  that  they  shall  take  an  ever-increasing  share  in  their 
own  government,  and  as  far  as  is  prudent  we  are  already  admitting 
their  representatives  to  a  governmental  equality  with  our  own. 
There  are  commissioners,  judges,  and  governors  in  the  islands  who 
are  Filipinos  and  who  have  exactly  the  same  share  in  the  government 
of  the  islands  as  have  their  colleagues  who  are  Americans,  while 
in  the  lower  ranks,  of  course,  the  great  majority  of  the  public 
servants  are  Filipinos.  Within  two  years  we  shall  be  trying  the 
experiment  of  an  elective  lower  house  in  the  Philippine  legislature. 
It  ma}^  be  that  the  Filipinos  will  misuse  this  legislature,  and  they 
certainly  will  misuse  it  if  they  are  misled  by  foolish  persons  here 
at  home  into  starting  an  agitation  for  their  own  independence  or 
into  any  factious  or  improper  action.  In  such  case  they  will  do 
themselves  no  good  and  will  stop  for  the  time  being  all  further 
effort  to  advance  them  and  give  them  a  greater  share  in  their  own 
government.  But  if  they  act  with  wisdom  and  self-restraint,  if  they 
show  that  they  are  capable  of  electing  a  legislature  which  in  its  turn 
is  capable  of  taking  a  sane  and  efficient  part  in  the  actual  work  of 
government,  they  can  rest  assured  that  a  full  and  increasing  measure 
of  recognition  will  be  given  them.  Above  all  they  should  remember 
that  their  prime  needs  are  moral  and  industrial,  not  political.  It  is 
a  good  thing  to  try  the  experiment  of  giving  them  a  legislature;  but 
it  is  a  far  better  thing  to  give  them  schools,  good  roads,  railroads 
which  will  enable  them  to  get  their  products  to  market,  honest 
courts,  an  honest  and  efficient  constabulary,  and  all  that  tends  to 
produce  order,  peace,  fair  dealing  as  between  man  and  man,  and 
habits  of  intelligent  industry-  and  thrift.    If  they  are  safeguarded 


40 


against  oppression,  and  if  their  real  wants,  material  and  spiritual, 
are  studied  intelligently  and  in  a  spirit  of  friendly  sympathy,  much 
more  good  will  be  done  them  than  by  any  effort  to  give  them  jKjliti- 
cal  power,  though  this  effort  may  in  its  own  proper  time  and  i)lace 
be  proper  enough. 

^Meanwhile  our  own  people  should  remember  that  there  is  need 
for  the  highest  standard  of  conduct  among  the  Americans  sent 
to  the  Philippine  Islands,  not  only  among  the  public  servants  but 
among  the  private  individuals  who  go  to  them.  It  is  because  I  feel 
this  so  deeply  that  in  the  administration  of  these  islands  I  have 
positively  refused  to  permit  any  discrimination  whatsoever  for 
political  reasons  and  have  insisted  that  in  choosing  the  public 
ser\'ants  consideration  should  be  paid  solely  to  the  w^orth  of  the 
men  chosen  and  to  the  needs  of  the  islands.  There  is  no  hio-her 
body  of  men  in  our  public  ser^dce  than  we  have  in  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  Under  Governor  Wright  and  his  associates.  So  far  as 
possible  these  men  should  be  given  a  free  hand,  and  their  sugges- 
tions should  receive  the  heart}'  backing  both  of  the  Executive 
and  of  the  Congress.  There  is  need  of  a  vigilant  and  disinterested 
support  of  our  public  servants  in  the  Philippines  by  good  citizens 
here  in  the  United  States.  Unfortunately  hitherto  those  of  our 
people  here  at  home  who  have  specially  claimed  to  be  the  cham- 
pions of  the  Filipinos' have  in  reality  been  their  worst  enemies. 
This  will  continue  to  be  the  case  as  long  as  they  strive  to  make  the 
Filipinos  independent,  and  stop  all  industrial  development  of  the 
islands  b}'  crying  out  against  the  law^s  wdiich  would  bring  it  on  the 
ground  that  capitalists  must  not  "exploit"  the  islands.  Such  pro- 
ceedings are  not  only  unwise,  but  are  most  harmful  to  the  Filipinos, 
who  do  not  need  independence  at  all,  but  wdio  do  need  good  laws, 
good  public  ser\'ants,  and  the  industrial  development  that  can  only 
come  if  the  investment  of  American  and  foreign  capital  in  the 
islands  is  favored  in  all  legitimate  ways. 

Every  measure  taken  concerning  the  islands  should  be  taken  pri- 
marily with  a  view^  to  their  advantage.  We  should  certainly  give 
them  low^er  tarifT  rates  on  their  exports  to  the  United  States;  if  this 
is  not  done  it  will  be  a  wrong  to  extend  our  shipping  laws  to  them. 
I  earnestly  hope  for  the  immediate  enactment  into  law  of  the  legis- 
lation now  pending  to  encourage  American  capital  to  seek  invest- 
ment in  the  islands  in  railroads,  in  factories,  in  plantations,  and  in 
lumbering  and  mining. 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 

The  White  House, 

December  6,  1^04. 


